This is a painting of the interior of St Gile's in Cheadle, Staffordshire. Not really related to this trip, although we did have the boat within a
couple of miles of this church on the Cauldon Canal this last winter,
this painting was produced as part of an animated documentary we are
working on to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the architect, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812 - 1852), the most renowned architect and designer of the nineteenth century Gothic Revival.
The creator of the stunning interiors of the Houses of Parliament, Pugin was the architect of over one hundred buildings, and the author of several books on Gothic Art and Design. St Giles' is the most splendid of all churches designed by Pugin and expresses in every detail his idea of what a parish church should be.'Perfect Cheadle,' he said of it, 'my consolation in all afflictions.'
Source Michael Fisher AWN Pugin Guides
I have numbered it as one of the Year of the Boat project as this work seems to have ignited a greater interest in the Gothic, had an influence on the following paintings in the project.
Oil Painting 39 - V festival 2012 - Arriving on the Friday
The 3 days of painting at V Festival 2011, Weston Park, last year http://www.robpointon.co.uk/tag/v-festival/ was some of the most intense and productive experiences of my career and one I was keen to revisit and build on with this year's festival. I thought this blog post would be a good opportunity to compare the work from the 2 years.
I was always against the odds this year as I only had 2 days to produce the works rather than the full 3 day weekend, the weather wasn't as good (a running theme in 2012) plus the G4S security team did not allow me access into the arena with the easel and paints despite wavers being signed, Roseclaim the V festival organising body being aware of the work and requesting a piece for their office in exchange for access.
So I was left to get what I could from panting the crowds as they circulated around the outside of the arena and campsites. The painting I put the most work into was Oil Painting 39 - V festival 2012 - Arriving on the Friday, I tucked the easel behind an ice cream van which was going to be static for the weekend which gave me shelter from, but also a really close vantage point to the tens of thousands of festival campers who were making their way to and from the campsites. This close proximity to the moving crowd gives a more intense result to the similar subject last year (see below).
V Festival 2011 - Outside the Arena
Oil Painting 39 - V festival 2012 - Arriving on the Friday
The composition is more dramatic, the path and side of the ice cream van giving a strong pull to a vanishing point just above the girls sunglasses. Being this close to the ice cream van gave me constant foreground material with people queuing to buy their Calypos and bottled water.
The two recognisable figures were made up from hundreds of different people queuing. It is the contrast between the definition on these figures and the blur of the abstract paintwork representing the throng behind them that is main subject in this piece - static alongside kinetic. There is also a sexual tension between the two figures and I think the amount of activity behind the male makes us feel slightly on edge and helps to relate the barrage on the senses that these festivals can bring.
I could see that this spot behind the van was as good as any, so began work on another small crowd study Oil Painting 40 - V Festival 2012 - Looking through the crowd . This painting is a little more challenging without any notable definition or description of distance. It is split very obviously, into thirds, only the recognisable signage in the upper third taking us away from a completely abstract painting. I am excited that the process of traditional on location painting is leading me to results like this, abstraction that is not forced or a one-off statement.
Oil Painting 40 - V Festival 2012 - Looking through the crowd
Painting The Main Stage 2011, not to be this year
V Festival 2011 - The Main Stage
Oil Painting 41 - V Festival 2012 - Sunday Carvery
The last piece I managed to produce this year, was on the Sunday of people getting food late afternoon and invites an interesting comparison with the Last Sun on the Sunday painting from last year (see below). Again positioning myself alongside a vendor allows shelter, some dramatic perspective and foreground figures. The splashes of colour from the sauce table work well.
The parents of baby Hugo had given up hope of having a child after no luck for 16 years. When he did arrive they wanted to create a special entrance to the world with a wonderful Christening and party set in their magnificent garden in Staffordshire. They had seen my 'Une petite Exposition' show earlier in the year in the Art Studio, Newcastle-under-Lyme and decided they would like for me to document the event.
We discussed what would be the main elements of the party, and chose a composition that would best describe the day. I had interesting 2 full preparation days painting in the garden setting, adding the marquee as it was erected, and the other furniture and details brought in for the party as they arrived in the garden, one particularly interesting addition was when Hugo's father mowed stripes on the lawn suddenly giving a real added depth to the piece with obvious lines describing distance to the previously flat green area of the lawn.
The painting after Day1
The painting after Day2 - notice the difference of stripes in the lawn and furniture
This was one of the first few pieces I documented the process of, with the time lapse function on my iPad, and I am glad I did as the piece goes through many phases with new additions as the hosts prepared the setting over 3 days with bunting and flowers culminating in a brief section from the day of the party. Getting the iPad to film from a suitable position is proving difficult, and some of the angles in the time lapse video are confusing.
The party itself was a great success with glorious sunshine arriving just in time after the wettest June and July on record. In the time lapse video of the day you can see the guests arrive for the party and being represented on the canvas. It felt like designing and preparing a theatre set and then adding the actors on the day. This is an added positive to painting on location rather than translating a photograph as the piece has an organic history and many levels to explore. Another piece I produced that was similar to this in experience was 'The British Guild of Travel Writers dinner at Weston' oil painting. Again I started with the setting, this time the extraordinary dining room at Weston Park, then added, on the second visit, the preparation for the event i.e. the set table, and silverware, the lit candles, until finally the main subject arrives and I have 2 hours to depict the writers having their meal. The limited time, I feel, adding to the dynamism of the piece.
Back to Hugo's Christening, I am pleased with how the atmosphere of all forty guests at the garden party has translated to the brushwork. It was quite a spectacle for them, seeing an artist painting first and foremost, but also to see themselves appear in the form of a few loose brushstrokes gave a great talking point and form of entertainment. The final layer to the painting was the addition of the family sat in the foreground. This was started on the day but was finished with some studio work, as unfortunately Hugo did not seem at all content at his party, it is a shame but hopefully when he is shown the painting and photographs of the day he can feel proud of the effort his parents made to celebrate his arrival.
I had been looking forward to painting this piece since driving to Weston Park last year and realising the canal ran quite close. The road to Weston, the busy A5, dips under this Thomas Telford iron crossing and the contrast between the rushing cars and the slow boats floating above is something I wanted to capture. When I got to paint the piece though, with the boat moored just alongside the aqueduct, this contrast wasn't shouting out as the main subject and in fact the painting doesnt really contain any boats or traffic but instead has become the study of a startling and enjoyable sunset which I couldn't have predicted after over a dismal month of rain in what was supposed to be a glorious summer of boating!
Apart from the sunset it was the poplar trees behind the aqueduct that were unexpectedly enjoyable subject matter from being on the spot. I love, of course, Van Gogh and Monet's poplar and cyprus tree paintings. Tall iconic shapes can make a composition very easily.
The plan was to get down to Thomas Telford's Stretton Aqueduct but when you underestimate the distance and then stop at such a peaceful spot as Gnosall surrounded by a passage of flowing Willow trees, the plan, and life, has to wait for 2 days whilst I produce this piece.
I have wanted to paint a willow for a long time, especially seeing so many on this project, growing by the water. If you remember with the French trip to the Vendee coast this year I produced one of my first tree 'portraits' with 'Tree by the Atlantic' study. It has been just a matter of time since then until I paint a willow, I know the flow of draping leaves in the movement of the wind will suit my approach with paint. I am not sure that this piece is 'it' however, it has some of that love of willow trees but is also a comment on the Shropshire Union canal and the long passages without locks where you are cruising through a tunnel of trees. I am enjoying the small front of the boat dwarfed by these leafy giants. Incidentally the owner of the boat in front got it cheap because it was underwater when he bought it!
These paintings were produced at the same time, flitting between the two small studies whilst both on the same easel. I was at Etruria Industrial Museum leading a workshop with the Orme Group of Artists, a group of artists who meet from Staffordshire and Cheshire. This is the second workshop I have ran with them, last year I met with about 12 of the artists and we painted on the platform at Crewe Railway Station, after I had given a small talk on the themes of movement and transport in my work.
Crewe Station 2011
This year Etruria Industrial Museum was chosen as it offered various subjects which I have explored and could encourage with confidence, the obvious being the canals and this current Year of the Boat project. The museum sits on the junction between The Cauldon Canal and the Trent and Mersey, it is a British Waterways office, hosts a fantastic canal festival and is surrounded by deep dramatic locks and some beautiful victorian Industrial architecture. I painted this subject when I had first started self employment as an artist -
Etruria Industrial Museum 2007
The other exciting subject at this location was the opportunity to paint a female blacksmith, a good friend Charis Jones, at work in her atmospheric Victorian forge. Charis is more an artist working with the medium of steel rather than a commercial blacksmith producing horeshoes and swords etc. You can see her website 'Sculpted Steel' here.
Last October I exhibited a body of work of small local North Staffordshire creative industries, painted at work, entitled 'Vis Unita Fortior' the motto of the city of Stoke on Trent. This included a painting of Charis. You can see all the work from the show here
The Female Blacksmith 2011
After a brief introduction talk about these bodies of work I left half the group with Charis pelting metal and ventured outside for some more water study in the sunshine. I knew I would be limited on time to produce refined oil paintings but fancied attempting bashing out some expressive studies. I am pleased with the results and the comparison with the work painted from exactly the same location nearly 5 years previously (see Etruria Industrial Museum 2007 above). When we all met at the end of the day,the Orme Group had produced some startling results, the entire group seems to flit between different mediums easily, rapidly exploring all forms of representing the canals and the moving subject of Charis.
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