BLOG/DIARY
Back to Basics II Tuesday 12th January 2021
When I was at art college (Manchester), all those years ago, I received a letter from the head of department that unless I bucked my ideas up I was out. 18 months into my course this was something of a blow, and I decided then and there to set about getting my degree. In the process I went back to basics in the classroom, and at home started looking hard at paintings that I liked, making reference sketches/watercolours in the hope that something good might rub off. Apart from really enjoying the process (each is 2 hours or so of absorption) I learnt a lot, and think it was something that helped turn things around.
30 years later, in these stop-start days of coronavirus, I've turned again to copying various paintings from some of my favourites; Hopper, Degas, Vuillard, Bonnard, Sargent, Rockwell have all occupied me. As an artist self-doubt is a great enemy, over-thinking, over-self-criticising etc. but just doing this sketchbook work reminds me that I love to paint and draw - a great starting point when uncertainty is setting in.
When I was at art college (Manchester), all those years ago, I received a letter from the head of department that unless I bucked my ideas up I was out. 18 months into my course this was something of a blow, and I decided then and there to set about getting my degree. In the process I went back to basics in the classroom, and at home started looking hard at paintings that I liked, making reference sketches/watercolours in the hope that something good might rub off. Apart from really enjoying the process (each is 2 hours or so of absorption) I learnt a lot, and think it was something that helped turn things around.
30 years later, in these stop-start days of coronavirus, I've turned again to copying various paintings from some of my favourites; Hopper, Degas, Vuillard, Bonnard, Sargent, Rockwell have all occupied me. As an artist self-doubt is a great enemy, over-thinking, over-self-criticising etc. but just doing this sketchbook work reminds me that I love to paint and draw - a great starting point when uncertainty is setting in.
What is Normal? Tuesday 25th August 2020
There was a time when I could proudly boast that I had five sheds. My studio was 3 sheds cobbled together, but time and the weather has rendered it no longer fit for purpose (it drips, it's damp or too hot, its full of snails) and it's all being brought down in order to replace it with one much better one. That's the idea anyhow, but in the meantime I've nowhere to paint and nowhere to put my stuff - I guess it'll work out in the end! I'm aiming for a studio with much more space, especially as I've just started working very big. I realise this is very impractical, especially if a work doesn't get sold (where do I put all these paintings?) but I so enjoy working on this scale and consider was I really painting before... Anyway, during lockdown the family home has had 6 people back in it again - in many ways a good thing, but I'm pretty much ready to get back to 'normal' - or as Jimmy Cooper says in 'Quadrophenia', "What is Normal?"
There was a time when I could proudly boast that I had five sheds. My studio was 3 sheds cobbled together, but time and the weather has rendered it no longer fit for purpose (it drips, it's damp or too hot, its full of snails) and it's all being brought down in order to replace it with one much better one. That's the idea anyhow, but in the meantime I've nowhere to paint and nowhere to put my stuff - I guess it'll work out in the end! I'm aiming for a studio with much more space, especially as I've just started working very big. I realise this is very impractical, especially if a work doesn't get sold (where do I put all these paintings?) but I so enjoy working on this scale and consider was I really painting before... Anyway, during lockdown the family home has had 6 people back in it again - in many ways a good thing, but I'm pretty much ready to get back to 'normal' - or as Jimmy Cooper says in 'Quadrophenia', "What is Normal?"
Influences (II). Tuesday 18th February 2020
Every so often my dad would bring home bits of stationery from work. Mostly it was these A4, brown, hardback legers which we used as scrapbooks and sketchbooks. Each page was squared up and not ideal, but my big brother Glenn was forever sat at the table scribbling comics into them. He had a black biro, a red biro and a blue biro which he alternated depending on what he was drawing. Red and blue was perfect for Spiderman, or reds v blues ('Rilsey Rovers') and of course red was perfect for blood, LOTS and LOTS of it in 'Dipped Dinosaur'. I was probably about 6, Glenn 14 and I copied him as best I could, building a scrapbook out of HIS comics (thats another story!) and drawing superheroes and things being shot with ray guns. This one time my dad brought back a pile of white sticky-back paper, almost as big as me, which became the new thing. I tucked myself behind the sofa on my knees drawing with a box of crayons. The paper didn't take the wax too well but I have this happy moment in my head when I thought 'I can draw anything I want on this page' (I drew Captain America swinging from a flag pole). I try and channel that feeling.
Every so often my dad would bring home bits of stationery from work. Mostly it was these A4, brown, hardback legers which we used as scrapbooks and sketchbooks. Each page was squared up and not ideal, but my big brother Glenn was forever sat at the table scribbling comics into them. He had a black biro, a red biro and a blue biro which he alternated depending on what he was drawing. Red and blue was perfect for Spiderman, or reds v blues ('Rilsey Rovers') and of course red was perfect for blood, LOTS and LOTS of it in 'Dipped Dinosaur'. I was probably about 6, Glenn 14 and I copied him as best I could, building a scrapbook out of HIS comics (thats another story!) and drawing superheroes and things being shot with ray guns. This one time my dad brought back a pile of white sticky-back paper, almost as big as me, which became the new thing. I tucked myself behind the sofa on my knees drawing with a box of crayons. The paper didn't take the wax too well but I have this happy moment in my head when I thought 'I can draw anything I want on this page' (I drew Captain America swinging from a flag pole). I try and channel that feeling.
Influences (I). Friday 14th February 2020
A recent influence has been Cambridge artist Bob Abraham who sadly recently passed away. Once a stalwart of the Cambridge Drawing Society, Bob's grandchildren are my niece and nephew, but for whatever reason I never really got to meet/know him. Weirdly we never talked about art and certainly I never knew what an accomplished, dedicated artist he was. Not so long ago I was lucky enough to be shown around his studio by his wife Anne and was delighted to see many of his sensitive oil paintings and especially his beautiful sketchbooks. It's sad to think these may go relatively unnoticed as they are many, and full to bursting with drawings and preparatory drawings, some so subtly different as he carefully, quietly planned his works. This has influenced me, and my last 3 paintings have all been made on canvases that Bob made and have since, luckily, come my way. I'm hoping some of his skills and thoughtfulness will rub off on me too, and certainly those canvasses have a certain greater value because of their provenance.
A recent influence has been Cambridge artist Bob Abraham who sadly recently passed away. Once a stalwart of the Cambridge Drawing Society, Bob's grandchildren are my niece and nephew, but for whatever reason I never really got to meet/know him. Weirdly we never talked about art and certainly I never knew what an accomplished, dedicated artist he was. Not so long ago I was lucky enough to be shown around his studio by his wife Anne and was delighted to see many of his sensitive oil paintings and especially his beautiful sketchbooks. It's sad to think these may go relatively unnoticed as they are many, and full to bursting with drawings and preparatory drawings, some so subtly different as he carefully, quietly planned his works. This has influenced me, and my last 3 paintings have all been made on canvases that Bob made and have since, luckily, come my way. I'm hoping some of his skills and thoughtfulness will rub off on me too, and certainly those canvasses have a certain greater value because of their provenance.
Teachers, Tuesday 22nd April 2019
It was good to catch up with a couple of my school teachers at my exhibition in St Neots. To describe my art education simply it would be: during school I was encouraged, during art college I was discouraged. It was a significant shock to be told I was good until 19, then told I wasn't any good when I reached art school. Looking back I realise I wasn't ready for art school and as an adult would have approached the whole thing totally differently. Teachers of note would be Mr Todd who quietly encouraged and guided me at A Level, Mike at Foundation who made art fun and gave me a massive and deserved bollocking for turning up late to one of his lessons, telling me to 'not waste a second' and then Chris Jones at Manchester who bucked the college trend of telling me everything I did was wrong, to genuinely help me to get a 2:1. Finally David Sweet (Head at Manchester) who deserves a mention for once saying 'he didn't hate' one of my paintings - the closest to praise I ever got!
It was good to catch up with a couple of my school teachers at my exhibition in St Neots. To describe my art education simply it would be: during school I was encouraged, during art college I was discouraged. It was a significant shock to be told I was good until 19, then told I wasn't any good when I reached art school. Looking back I realise I wasn't ready for art school and as an adult would have approached the whole thing totally differently. Teachers of note would be Mr Todd who quietly encouraged and guided me at A Level, Mike at Foundation who made art fun and gave me a massive and deserved bollocking for turning up late to one of his lessons, telling me to 'not waste a second' and then Chris Jones at Manchester who bucked the college trend of telling me everything I did was wrong, to genuinely help me to get a 2:1. Finally David Sweet (Head at Manchester) who deserves a mention for once saying 'he didn't hate' one of my paintings - the closest to praise I ever got!
Just like Monet, Monday 28th January 2019
I am indeed, just like Monet - in that I now have a cataract in my eye. It didn't seem to hold him back, however I've got a few visual issues, including a temporary lens in my glasses like the bottom of a milk bottle. I've been doing lots of sketchbook work to 'keep my eye in', and then posting them daily on Instagram @dakinart, and though I don't get a coconut every time, occasionally I have a hit. Here are some of my favourites of my family watching screens etc. Lucky for me that they are quite happy sitting around doing not a great deal!
'Alla Prima, Monday 21st January 2019
It was something of a revelation late last year to discover how much I enjoy painting directly from life again. I never intended working from photographs (and never did when I was younger), but when I returned to art in 2013 I was in something of a hurry and found myself seduced by my camera phone, and all the short cuts working from photographs afforded me. More recently however I've been taking my easel outside, or painting portraits from life and though it is MUCH harder, the challenge of it is very rewarding and lots of fun.
At Christmas I received 'Alla Prima' by Richard Schmid, which is nudging me along. This book is full of the kind of advice I was either not taught or probably ignored when I was a student. It's a whopping great thing, very expensive and quite hard to get hold of, but I enjoy the author's words of experience, and hope some of his tips are seeping in. Here is a recent portrait I did of my daughter Olivia, captured over three hours, very much in the 'Alla Prima' vein.
It was something of a revelation late last year to discover how much I enjoy painting directly from life again. I never intended working from photographs (and never did when I was younger), but when I returned to art in 2013 I was in something of a hurry and found myself seduced by my camera phone, and all the short cuts working from photographs afforded me. More recently however I've been taking my easel outside, or painting portraits from life and though it is MUCH harder, the challenge of it is very rewarding and lots of fun.
At Christmas I received 'Alla Prima' by Richard Schmid, which is nudging me along. This book is full of the kind of advice I was either not taught or probably ignored when I was a student. It's a whopping great thing, very expensive and quite hard to get hold of, but I enjoy the author's words of experience, and hope some of his tips are seeping in. Here is a recent portrait I did of my daughter Olivia, captured over three hours, very much in the 'Alla Prima' vein.
