Edgmond House Commission

A private commission produced this winter as a surprise 50th birthday present for the owner of this wonderful property near Newport, Shropshire. He had previously seen and expressed interest in the Weston Park interior paintings, so his wife knew it would be something of interest.

I wanted a composition that would combine a view out to the garden, in particular capturing the height of the tall tree, with an unusual depiction of the lounge. The enormous windows flood this room with natural light and give an enjoyable comparison to the artificial wall lights and chandelier which is sending out shafts of colour across the white ceiling.

I enjoyed depicting the mass of the material of the large curtains in the foreground, trying to really reflect their weight. This reminded me of one of Lucian Freud's earlier paintings which is primarily a study of gravity with a dense coat hanging alongside a gravity defying plant delicately meandering upwards.

Large Interior, Paddington, Lucian Freud

Source: wikipaintings.org via Rob Pointon on Pinterest

The painting was presented on the birthday with the room still empty on the understanding I could return to paint in family figures if required.

After some deliberation this was agreed and I painted in three of the family's children. We were all keen to keep the depiction of the family informal and almost incidental. I am pleased with the results.

Altogether this piece was 6 days work spread over a few weeks.

Oil Paintings 39, 40 and 41 - V Festival 2012

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.

V Festival 2011 - Last Sun on the Sunday

Oil Painting 29 - Stretton Aqueduct

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!

If you are interested in the history of the aqueduct it has a wikipedia page - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stretton_Aqueduct

Oil Painting 29 in progress

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.

Monet - Poplars on the River Epte

Van Gogh - Wheatfield with Cypress

Oil Painting 28 - The Salon and Marble Hall at Weston

Last year, 2011, I started a wonderful working relationship with the Weston Park Foundation. It began with entering their Halls Fine Art Open Competition in the superb Granary Gallery space at Weston, having 2 out of 3 submitted selected, and then receiving the wonderful news that one of the pieces, 'Etruria Roundabout' had won the regional artist prize of £500 for Staffordshire and Cheshire. Etruria Roundabout is one of my personal favourites and has always proved popular, also winning the Visitor's Choice Prize at The Staffordshire Open at The Shire Hall Gallery, Stafford, but for one reason or another it has not found a buyer yet. I guess not everyone wishes to have a busy concrete traffic spot on their walls!

Winning the prize at the Halls Open at Weston introduced my agent and I to the art curator and education team there and we were offered a group show in the December months responding to the theme of Weston Park itself and celebrating the 25 years the foundation has been established. Participating in this exhibition was one of my career highlights as it lead to months of directly responding to the House and grounds as well as gaining entry to paint the main stage at the V Festival. Click here to see more details on the exhibition and the body of work.

So, when I knew we would be close by on the boat, moored at the beautiful village of Wheaton Aston and then Stretton Aqueduct, I thought I would revisit the fascinating interiors of the House at Weston with Oil Painting 28 - The Salon and Marble Hall. The other interiors I have painted at the house are The Library and The Dining Room and The British Guild of Travel Writers' Dinner at Weston.

It was ideal indoor subject matter with the dismal weather continuing, but more than that I really enjoyed an unusual depiction of space interpreting a chequered floor. Along with looking down railway lines and telegraph poles a chequered floor is a much-used device for illustrating space and perspective.

MC Escher often played his visual illusion games using chequered flooring, the study of Escher's perspective treatment formed part of my wide angle dissertation study during my Fine Art BA Hons. I think the stark contrast of black and white patterned squares allow immediate interpretation of the plane in space you are trying to depict, and as we have become so familiar with them, they can facilate and bring a normality to quite complex spacial representations. Another more recent artistic treatment of distorting chequered flooring can be seen in some of Tim Burton's films 'Nightmare before Christmas' and 'Alice in Wonderand'.

I have waved the horizon in the piece to draw attention to looking down at the tiles on the right hand side and looking up at skylight in the salon on the left. 

I have always had an unusual education of the subject whenever painting in the house at Weston, the tour guides escorting groups round and informing about every piece of art in the room I am looking at is a great way to learn about what you are painting. Now I know this room was originally a courtyard, I am positioned next to a painting of a 127 year old woman who once walked from Staffordshire to London, the painting of the ships in the background caused distress to a group of yacht owners because the wind is wrong. There is another popular painting in the room of a little girl who has been whipped in her classes, the chairs are all of the studio of Chippendale, the chequered flooring is welsh slate and Italian marble and original to the house. When Birmingham housed the G8 Summit the world leaders had a day of relaxation here at Weston and watched the cup final in this room whilst Tony Blair and Bill Clinton were being interviewed on the lawn at the front by David Frost.

Posted with Blogsy