In Gozo last Summer I took the opportunity to walk across the top of the Azure Window to capture the view down over the rock pools and beyond to Fungus Rock in the distance. Continue reading “Azure Window”
Azure Window
Author: Will Smith
Contemplating The Depths
Our house swap this summer was to Grasse in the South of France. Grasse’s inland location allowed us to make forays into the mountains as well as get more easily to various beaches along the Côte d’Azur. Our favourite area was Théoule-sur-Mer with its orange rock pinnacles, white pebble coves with azure pools. Continue reading “Contemplating The Depths”
Apocalypse Now (Or Maybe Tomorrow)
So we’re all looking forward (in no particular order) to Christmas, The Mayan ‘Apocalypse’ 21/12/12, The Euro Apocalypse / the imminent Bond Market collapse, the next high flying celebrity to crash and burn, the next Flood, the first nuclear war, escape to the Moon/Mars…. etc. And I was thinking how could a painter find any relevance with all this going on. But the internet is a wonderful thing for connecting anything to everything and a reminder that these type of events constantly recur, that the oldest themes in art are the best and that there’s nothing new under the sun. Continue reading “Apocalypse Now (Or Maybe Tomorrow)”
At The Beach With Giotto (In Mind)
As a painter of beaches, when I saw the Giotto frescoes at the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua I was struck by how much parts of it resemble pools of water with angels swimming about in them. The azure of the ceiling and pale cerulean and pinky golds of the chapel walls look to me like a deep plunge pool flanked by sandy cliffs. Continue reading “At The Beach With Giotto (In Mind)”
A Taste Of Apocalypse
There’s been a lot in the media recently about 2012 being the year of apocalypse or some sort of catastrophic change predicted in the Mayan calendar. Last summer, instead of our usual holiday to Gozo where I paint my beach scenes, we house-swapped for three weeks in the French Pyrenean town of Quillan and discovered the neighbouring village of Bugarach. Property prices there have gone sky high after thousands of people flocked to the area believing the nearby mountain to be the only place on earth to be spared this ‘apocalypse’. Apparently in 2011, the local mayor began voicing fears to the international press that the small town would be overwhelmed by thousands of visitors in 2012, even suggesting he may call in the army. Continue reading “A Taste Of Apocalypse”