Birmingham - Year of the Boat preview evening

Birmingham Exhibition

26th April - 18th May 2013

Some more wonderful photography by Page Seven Photography...

Portrait at Gas Street Basin, at the spot where I painted Oil Painting 38, the photographers were keen to test a comparison of the photograph vs the actual painting (see below)

The painting in the window at Number Nine the Gallery, Brindley Place

Clive Henderson, former Chairman of IWA and influential in the establishment of the Canal and River Trust, alongside his now completed portrait

Tony Hales, Chairman of Canal and River Trust opening the Birmingham show

The presentation of Clive Henderson's portrait. Left to right; Rob Pointon, Clive Henderson, Tony Hales

Well attended launch party

Oil Painting 61 - Portrait of Clive Henderson

I am delighted to have had the support of the Canal and River Trust throughout this project. A percentage of all proceeds from the Year of the Boat exhibitions (see exhibitions page) and the supporting merchandise shall be donated to the trust.

http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/art-and-the-canal-and-river-trust/the-year-of-the-boat

When I was asked to paint the portrait of former IWA Chairman Clive Henderson as a thank you from the Trust for playing an instrumental role in its establishment, I jumped at the opportunity.

I have spent a few days with Clive sat on the lock gate outside his house producing the oil-painted portrait. The painting shall be presented to him by Canal and River Trust at the launch of the Birmingham Year of the Boat Exhibition, and as I don't want to spoil the surprise you only get to see the pencil sketch at this stage!

Oil Painting 56 - The German Market, Birmingham

A big thank you is due to Birmingham City Council for granting permission for me to paint amongst the action during the visit of the German Market to the city centre. If you haven't been it is quite an experience, the large public spaces are taken over by wooden lodges each selling winter food, beer or Christmas trinkets. The permitted outdoor drinking gives a relaxed atmosphere and attracts hoards of the city's workers after a day in the office. Smells of garlic mushrooms and sizzling sausages permeate the air.

These German markets really come to life when the light dulls and the strings of lights that adorn each building make the whole market glow invitingly. I wanted an image that captured some of this bright artificial light in cold dull winter days. I positioned myself alongside the large carousel that dominates Victoria Square. I had clocked this an an interesting subject when I visited the market the previous winter. It proved a really interesting challenge, mainly moving, but even in the intervals where it stopped it never seemed to stop in the same position twice.



Masses of moving intense colours filling a composition. The painting was mainly completed in dull daylight although there was a golden hour everyday at twilight when there was still enough light to see the palette and painting but little enough so that the bright lights of the carousel made it scream out in the landscape.

I enjoy how recognisable but not complete horse shapes appear out of the puzzle of moving colour. The vertical railings looping around the ride cast really interesting moving patterns of light when the daylight had gone completely.

What wasn't so enjoyable was the barrage of fairground organ music you get if you stand for days alongside a carousel trying to attract custom. The tunes this one was playing even made the news when passers by realised that 'Dambusters' and 'Dad's Army' might not be appropriate in a German Wonderland!

Oil Painting 43 - Worcester Cathedral

Our entrance into Birmingham was quite stressful, however the stay in the centre as I have mentioned already, and the exit we took were anything but. The canal passage past the mailbox continues, accompanied by a railway line, tree lined, surrounded by leafy Edgbaston, the Botanical Gardens and the attractive campus of Birmingham University. By the end of this stretch and then with the interest of Cadbury World, the canal was entering the first of the big three tunnels on the Birmingham and Worcester Canal and urban living is once again left behind replaced by rural Worcestershire. 

Leaving Brum means The Great Divide has now been crossed, we have left the Northern Monkeys behind and are now Southern Softies. I can feel the increased temperatures, wealth and arrogance washing over me but before I can get too comfortable in my new role snubbing the north, I am brought down to earth with a real bummer of a stretch of locks. The longest flight in the country it turns out, 50 something to Worcester in total and a particularly nasty stretch of 37 in just 4 miles at Tardebigge. Thats over 9 a mile. Luckily Stoke City holding Arsenal to a draw on BBC5Live got me through it (I have not completely abandoned my roots).

 

Eventually we pull up in Worcester, a small city dominated by an almighty Cathedral. My home city of Stoke on Trent has a much bigger population although it is a relatively new city (a federation of six squabbling towns 100 years ago) and thus doesn't have one of these enormous religious buildings dominating the skyline. It has plenty of impressive church spires and towers and even a new domed mosque but nothing on the scale of Worcester Cathedral. Nearly 1000 years old it still has the intimidating, awe-inspiring affect it's architects would have wished, and there is something utterly timeless about mooring up our floating home within ear shot of the bells tolling each hour.

Right then, where to paint it from? The iconic view of Worcester contains the Cathedral, and there seems to be one main vantage point, which is across the other side of the River Severn with a bit of cricket pitch and the arched river bridge in shot. *yawn*

I am paranoid enough about my paintings on this project becoming picture-postcard-like without consciously painting THE view of Worcester, that seems to be everywhere in the towns promotion. So out of stubbornness as much as anything, I defiantly stick to the high street side and try to get a view between the trees, this pushes me closer to the entrance and the visitors to the Cathedral so I feel I am having more of a conversation with the building, the close proximity allowing a more dramatic perspective and sense of scale, with the stonework filling the composition. The obvious influence here is the Rouen Cathedral frontage work of Claude Monet, although Dennis Creffield's expressive Cathedral representations have had a lasting impact after seeing him talk at The Princes Drawing School. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Creffield

Claude Monet's various representations of the portal of Rouen Cathedral

Dennis Creffield - Gloucester Cathedral I

We were having some rare and much appreciated sunshine and the tracking light source picking out the decorative stonework was unveiling some glorious unexpected colour combinations. Thoughts of Monet's Rouen Cathedral work and having the time to spend long periods of time with a constant subject is having appeal at this point in the midst of this stop start journey around the country, seeing so much but having limited time and feeling the pressure to keep moving.

Whilst working I was approached by a artist called Conrad (never gave surname) and we had a good constructive chat through where I was going with the piece. I think he approved. He voiced some great past artists who had similar areas of interest, particularally with the fracturing of this composition into a diamond format. The artists he named -

Lionel Feineger

Lionel Feinenger

Robert Delaunay

On the 2nd out of 3 days painting this piece there was a Graduation Ceremony

This piece, and producing it alongside the Entrance was also consciously a demonstration piece to the management team of the Cathedral to try and gain access to paint the spectacular interior...

Oil Painting 38 - Gas Street Basin

'The Heart of the Canal Network' , the last painting from our stay in Birmingham.

A found a good pulpit to view the mixed landscape from, stood up at the top of the old ramp leading to the cast iron footbridge. The vista was complicated and of interest right the way round, so I have attempted to condense a 270 degree view into a rectangular canvas, enjoyed skewing and manipulating the space. The scene contained a lot of themes I have been enjoying exploring with water reflection, dramatic near and far, obvious passages and routes for the eye on several levels above and below our vantage point. Also of interest Was the contrast of architecture, and some colourful elements with the glimpse of cafe culture and the bright boats in the marina, all coming off a central pontoon like a fern leaf.

I was greeted after only 15 minutes of setting up with a cup of tea from a resident boater in the basin, a Mr David who is a columnist for a few canal publications including Canals Rivers and Boats. There cannot be many city centre locations where you can stand and a stranger will bring you a cup of tea. Mr David wasn't the only resident to come and chat, there seems to be a photographer in every other boat in the Basin and a genuinely creative vibe amongst the boaters.

Meeting the canal community in Gas St was a enjoyable and fitting end to our time in Birmingham. Stopping for water on the way out I came the closest I have to falling in the canal, overlooked by hundreds of windows of the new cube building alongside the Mailbox. I leapt to the boat gunwale from the side and slipped, luckily I had managed the grip with both hands on the rail on the top of the boat and pulled myself out, but for a while I was dangling off the side with the water coming up to both knees. Apparently you are not a proper boater until you have fallen in. I see this as a sign that I have now done more than dip my toes in the world of boating!

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Oil Painting 37 - Winner Stays On

It was becoming clear that whilst moored in central Birmingham during the Olympics, Victoria Square was the place to be. Part of the relaxed games atmosphere that was created in this area was thanks to the many table tennis tables that had been placed around with bats and balls left free for anybody to use and a statement of trust from the organisers to the public which is really refreshing. I have noticed strangers of all generations playing ping pong with one another with the BBC Big Screen blaring out Team GB's remarkable successes in the background.

One evening I noticed a interesting dynamic on one of the tables with one big black guy introducing a winner stays on and challenging all the local youth who had been enjoying gathering round the tables to try and knock him off.

I was quick to get the paints and easel over to them to try and quickly capture this drama. Only in the process of pulling out the easel and canvas did I realise just what I had committed to, in looking very peculiar, covered in paint and staring at a urban gang of hoodie wearing individuals. It is strange where this process of trying to be a good artist takes you, and here I now am trying to quickly paint a representation of a confused youth eyeballing me right back. Fortunately the painting took shape quickly, probably anxiety driven, and the lads were really receptive. The big black guy stayed on for 2 hours before being knocked off.

The red foundation really helped and adds to the competitive atmosphere. It reminds me of Degas' 'combing the hair'

http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/search/Degas%20combing/1#supersized-search-213349

I saw a great documentary on BBC 4 entitled 'The Madness of Peter Howson' and noticed he usually works into a red foundation which gives a warmth across the whole piece even when completely covered in further layers of paint. This is something I wish to further explore and develop in the future.

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Oil Painting 36 - Brindley Place

I was pleased with how Oil Painting 35 'Birmingham watching the Olympics' was going but felt one thing it didn't do was reflect Birmingham's love affair with the canals; "more canals than Venice" being the infamous boast. The redevelopment of the central canal passage has been startling, not that I was familiar with the area previously but it is obvious that the transformations around Brindley Place, leading on to Gas Street and the Mailbox have enabled the city to enjoy its canal association, to the point of now being one of the top tourist attractions in the city centre with boat trips, boat buses, boat hotels, boat restaurants, boat scout excursions, boat cafes and boat stag and hen doos!


My favourite cities worldwide seem to have a central structure to connected to water, e.g. London's Thames, Budapest's Danube, even the coastal separation of Hong Kong and Kowloon, and be celebrating that association. The rivers, canals or coast give recognisable geography and identity to our cities as well as offering a place of relaxation in the hustle and bustle. Birmingham has reinvented its own water structure which has in turn made the city centre easier to navigate and much more enjoyable as a whole.

It is quite obvious why I picked this view, human activity between 3 different levels linked by staircases with a central passage of water can hold the viewers eye with routes in and around the painting. The bright scarlet red of the cafe boat providing a bold diagonal device. This boat was manned by lovely chatty brummie ladies serving up sandwiches from the side hatch.

The experience of painting this piece is marred slightly by my eventual removal by security staff at Brindley Place meaning the painting was left in quite a loose state. Even though I wasn't selling, just painting I found out I needed to show evidence of my setup and work, and personal liability insurance, plus a method statement and risk assessment form that would take 3 days to be reviewed by the operations manager and presented before a team. I didn't do this (or knew i needed to) I just wandered up with easel, and tried my luck, which on this occasion ran out on the second day and there wasn't the time to jump through all the hoops before we left Birmingham.

I want to state that every person I had dealings with at Brindley Place seemed genuine, friendly and interested in what I was doing, I had been happily chatting with the security on the first day and throughout the first part of the second before the guard asked me if I had permission. When I had then found out from the office the protocol the security staff were deeply apologetic and assumed it wouldn't have been a problem, and we're sad to see the painting go.

I know it gets complained about a lot, but this red tape culture and the fear of law suits stops so many productive things from happening. I ask a lot of questions of public space ownerships by setting up with a canvas in all sorts of locations, and am glad that it is a by-product to my work, but it is often hard, and will detract many artists from the process of claiming their streets and in turn their own experiences. It is a shame that one of the most commonly asked questions of me whilst painting is 'did you get permission to do that?'

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Oil Painting 35 - Birmingham watches the Olympics

One of the downsides of trying to live without a television on board a narrowboat is when a once in a lifetime event comes along, like the Olympics in your home country, everyone begins talking about it, and you do not have the means to participate.

Imagine our delight then, when we moored up in central Birmingham to find within strolling distance, an epic television bigger than those in even our richest friend's lounges, seating, and even a ready made atmospheric crowd of spectators. Couple that with relaxed 14 day moorings in a secure marina with good facilities and you have an unforgettable few weeks in Britain's second city.

This painting started out life as a quick watercolour sketch from the other side of the floozy in the gacuzzi.

I quickly realised this square had enormous potential in subject matter - iconically Birmingham, colourful flags, beautiful buildings, sweeping curves of the cascading steps and fountain, crowds that were going to be there day in day out for over a fortnight, a pretty complicated multi-leveled space to depict and a ready made plinth to stand upon and be admired producing a painting.

My 'plinth' was the base to the sphnix statue - the statue is a great compositinal device itself relaxedly watching the BBC Big Screen 

Cue purchasing as big a canvas as I could fit through the hatch of the boat, and spending days watching the London 2012 Olympics unfold, whilst chatting with hundreds of people and building up as fine a painting as I have produced.

I like how the 'Year of the Boat' has stumbled across the Olympics, after the nightmare of getting to the capital to paint the flotilla I had written off the Olympics but was over the moon when this project naturally crossed paths. I was able to relax into the Olympics, watch event after event and still be able to do my work.

What is interesting with these crowd paintings is picking out the colour differences between them, my V Festival paintings have a quite a orangey fake tan feel to them, with lots of legs, hot-pants and pink wellies on show, the Stoke football paintings I have done have the iconic red and white striped shirts and the flotilla had the raincoats, umbrellas and union jacks.

Crowd painting at the flotilla - rain macs, brollies and union jacks

This crowd was different once again and actually changed halfway through; it began with a summery coloured crowd sitting amongst the bright colours of the 2012 Olympic branding but then took on another dimension when the event 'Jamaica in the Square' was set up and took place during the course of me producing the painting.

The star of the painting - this lad takes centre stage looking at us from the bottom of the painting

At its peak, there was the Jamaica flag raised in the square in front of thousands of people dressed in or waving the green yellow and black flags. The event was celebrating the 50 years of Jamaican Independence and was another fascinating experience to add to the trip. You can imagine the crowds reaction when Usain Bolt and Blake thanked Birmingham for being such good hosts to their athletic team after Jamaica blew away any competition in the 200m final! Birmingham was Buzzing. We were really lucky to arrive when we did.

As well as the flashes of green, yellow and black the Jamaican Independence Event also changed the scene in another way- the blue smoke from the food stalls cooking up Jerk Chicken and Curried Goat added real atmosphere and distance to the City Hall building at the back. Aerial perspective I think is the technical term.

Our friend Gemma pointing to her little self watching the Olympics

Oil Painting 34 - Spaghetti Junction

This, if I am honest, was the main reason for leaving the Birmingham Main Line and taking the Tame Valley canal detour into the centre of Birmingham. My interest in representing complex spaces with multiple levels of activity and movement meant that this was a must see.

Motorways, railways and bypasses cross over and over, one on top of the other, sometimes getting to such a height that they take on the appearance of giant roller coasters supported by a forest of enormous concrete cylindrical pillars.

The canal was here first and so drifts through at the very bottom of all these stacks of modes of transport. It is a strange world down here at base level, spending time, largely unseen, underneath what you know to be thousands of people hurtling along at speed. On the boat you slowly and silently glide through this alien cathedral of artificial noise and vibration. The experience is much like being on the sewers of mankind, or in movie terms like being in the lower levels of futuristic cities in science fiction films like Blade Runner or The Fifth Element.

There is a buzz to finding a subject like this and a space like this in which to work. You feel like you are not supposed to stop here. This bizarre experience, for me, on a similar level to the Pontcylytte Aqueduct, is not talked about as a waterways highlight. It is a very intimidating space, the bottom rung, and you feel like you are breaking the rules being here, and you should be scrambling to get out, yet if you allow those feelings to wash over you and you embrace the space, it's fascinating to study the underbelly.

I am not alone in enjoying producing artwork down here, there is a real gallery of graffiti art down here, one wall in particular must have at least 50 large tags in a line. Hours and hours of work have gone into them and I found myself looking and appreciating the work more than I have previously. The abstraction, distortion and embellishment of type takes the medium into its own.

I enjoy any comparison with my 'en plein air' practice and street art. The words 'en plein air' ( in open air) are probably enough to make most street artists throw up, I am not working with type at all, and am observation rather than imagination led although I equally enjoying thrashing out an artwork in public spaces and in doing so trying to claim some kind of ownership over them.

So here is my attempt at ownership of Spaghetti Junction - Oil Painting 34 - enjoy!