I've begun painting a series of pictures in the market, on the market, of the market.
I live in the Cotentin peninsular and there are more than 40 street markets spread throughout the area and week. They are where you can find the finest and best value local produce. During 'La Bataille D'Isigny' I also found the street market an invaluable means to present in person to the town population.
In English the word 'market' shifts from the street market, to the stock market to the idea of virtual transactional exchange effortlessly. On a painted sign above my market stall I painted a text In French that I'd translated from English poking at my purpose in the market. But I've found the definition of the word 'marché' in French is less transferable from the street to other. After my second market I adjusted the sign striking the text through with a golden line. But I have kept it because I believe it does still provoke thought into the playful conceptual space I want my 'on/in/of' market painting activity to stretch into.
Ca Marche? people say to me wondering if I'm selling anything but I immediately swing the question back to them asking them to judge the quality of the painting and the wider aesthetic exchange of my presence on and in the market...perhaps my art?
The first plein aire pictures I made were for Walkerloo. They were back drops for my portable paper soldier army on tour.
10 years later I painted views of my garden for my mothers birthday. They all now hang on her wall and she loves them.
Throughout the summer of 2021 making the picture 'Les Trois Ages du Dragon Baligan' I painted daily but when the project finished I missed the brush wiggling activity.
Since leaving University I've made most of my money painting houses. When I moved to France I did a weekly oil (but with acrylics!) painting course at the local art school. My first paper soldiers were coloured using marker pens which was at first straight forward but I found the fixed colour range restrictive and expensive! So I began to paint the soldiers with a set of gouache I'd bought for the painting course. Mixing new colours with paint and developing brush techniques to make convincing pictures feels magical.
Taking my goats onto the hillside one beautifully mild morning in December 2021 I decided to get my paints and join them beneath the bright blue sky. I posted the painting on the Instagram account I'd begun using after a visitor's suggestion during my Dielette studio.
Over the next few months I began making a couple of outdoor paintings a week spending 5 or 6 hours in the lanes and fields around my home in still concentration was wonderful.
In the Spring of 2022 scoping properties for my Isigny mission I decided to paint my chosen location. Over the 5 months of "Au Monstre D'Isigny" as a means of engagement with the town and it's people I made over 50 plein aire paintings.
Returning from Isigny I continued to go out and paint a couple of times a week.
Painting outside is wonderful. You have to be quick if you want to catch a particular scene. Especially if the suns out. I've lived next to the sea for more than 20 years but until then I'd never tried to paint it.
A group of students on a creative 'gap-year' program from the USA spent two days around me and my home filming and photographing the...
