A Legend

A true artist (and I am a true artist [indubitably]) never goes anywhere without his pencil and a sketchpad, even doon the pub intent on only drinkin'!

It's a bit of a hobby of mine to observe my fellow imbibers as they socialise and present me with subjects without having to pay them for their imortalisation:

Fascinating abstract pattern dress on rather large lady.

And this man reading "The Lost Army of Cambysus":

I have not read this book yet myself but it looks like my kinda thing - ancient armies lost in sandstorms.

One day, when I am sadly gone, these unknown bar-flies will be viewed in books about the artist and how he was mis-understood and under appreciated (except by those in Arizona at least) and really only a legend in his ain hoose.

Finished!

I’ve just dragged my sorry ass over the finishing line, dehydrated and delirious!
(I need a drink - anybody want to come out for a few libations with me? :o)

The DHL van came today and took my portfolio of Semi-Abstract Figurative paintings and supporting Logbooks, Notebooks, Sketchbooks, and Sketchpads away down to Barnsley, in England, for Assessment by the Open College of the Arts. What the hell they will make of it is anybody’s guess. Time will tell.
In the meantime, I’m now officially on holiday and there won’t be much in the way of image making for a few months.
I’ve spent the last three weeks making a Portfolio and cardboard shipping containers, writing my Students Review of the Course, bonding finished paintings onto presentation boards, printing out titles for every piece, and generally making sure everything is as I want it.
I feel like a discarded lump of flotsam washed ashore and neither of the sea or the land. In limbo, wondering what it was all about, and where to go now. I think I’ll go camping and see what the countryside has to say, or maybe just take my grandson out for a spin in his pram. A major turn in my life is about to occur, and I don’t know what direction to take.
The one good thing is that the Course has helped me develop a good working process, and a manner of painting which suits my personality, and a consistency which was missing before.
In the autumn, in between pushing Harry’s pram and playing mandolin, I will find a new Project to engage me and try to produce paintings which try to catch the balance between representation and abstract:

"Two Girls", oils on canvas, 61x42cm.

There is much more waiting to be discovered.