November Pots

A windowful of pots, painted pots by David Stubbs and thrown pots by Chris Keenan, cool paintings, tactile vessels, handmade studies in repetition and variation, they’re all the result of a purposeful ritual and a prolonged gaze. Reflections of the artists’ hand and eye. Look closely and you’ll see me taking the photograph with one of David’s painted pots! Continue reading “November Pots”

Frames of reference

Stillness: Paintings & Drawings From Life

Wilmington Hill from Beachy Head

When I began painting as a teenager growing up in Sussex I painted things that were accessible. These were what was outside my bedroom window and objects I had lying around my room. The view outside my window was the South Downs and the changing light, weather and seasons made it continually fascinating and enduring as a subject matter. I began going out into the landscape and painting plein-air and when indoors I ran out of objects to paint I began collecting pots and coloured fabrics. These two ways of working have endured and developed simultaneously and I have continued to work from both landscape and still life in equal measure. Continue reading “Stillness: Paintings & Drawings From Life”

Frames of reference

Downland Landscapes

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Downs Study from Beachy Head

This series of landscape works has been painted entirely on location. They are a direct response to what I saw and the experience of being in the landscape. I have always worked from direct observation and never seen the point of working away from the subject matter. That is because I do not paint pictures of things, I make studies. Continue reading “Downland Landscapes”

Frames of reference

A Patch Of Order

David Stubbs 'Grey, white and blue on grey and pink' oil on canvas 20 x 25 cm 2015.

Grey, white and blue on grey and pink

Drawing and painting is something I do in response to what I am seeing. This practice of working from direct observation was established in my youth. It was probably inherited from my mother, a flower painter and my grandmother, a figurative artist, and fuelled by visits to the National Gallery and subsequent juvenile attempts to replicate the realism of the Old Masters. It was the Dutch 17th century painters that had particularly caught my attention and I began using oil paint and developing an art practice by setting up still lives and going out into the landscape. Continue reading “A Patch Of Order”

Frames of reference

Ditchling Beacon

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It was a bright crisp morning in April, the next Sunday after Easter. Aeroplanes were drawing maps all the way from London down to Sussex. It was a constant distraction, I needed to make frequent stops to check the sky. No wonder I avoid sat-nav. Continue reading “Ditchling Beacon”

Frames of reference

Recent Etchings

Seaford Head from Beachy Head' etching aquatint, plate size 16 x 30 cm

I learned how to do etching from Bartolomeu dos Santos when I was a student at the Slade School of Fine Art in the late 1970’s. After I had graduated, no longer having easy access to a print room and a shortage of funds meant I had to improvise equipment in order to carry on printmaking. I developed my own way of applying aquatint and a converted mangle gave me rough working proofs for a couple of years. The search for part time teaching work took me to the Northeast of England, where I immediately became a member of Charlotte Press in Newcastle. There I had open access to a well-equipped print room and could further develop my technique and produce editions. Continue reading “Recent Etchings”

Frames of reference

Green, Yellow & Grey With Pink & Cream

David Stubbs has a small oil painting in this year’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. It is titled Green, Yellow & Grey with Pink & Cream (Dutch Pots III) and it sold almost straightaway, though others are available at The Rowley Gallery. David’s painting has been reproduced as an RA card.

Frames of reference

Near Beachy Head

This series of landscape studies has been painted entirely on location. They are all painted from the same viewpoint near Beachy Head in East Sussex and are sections selected from the panoramic view. They are a direct response to what I saw and the experience of being in the landscape. Continue reading “Near Beachy Head”

Frames of reference