My friend Brian rears English Grey Partridges in the hope that they may be released into the wild. These birds have become very scarce as a result of changes to agricultural pratice. I have done several paintings of them. here is the most recent one.
The “lookout”
This is the most recent tonal drawing I have made of my model for final year show. See CO of Portsoken Volunteers.
It is getting there, but not quite right yet.
The Portsoken Volunteers is part of the City of London Home Guard formed in the late 18th Century to defend London against a Napoleonic invasion. This Company still exists today and the Uniform is the same as that used in the time of King George III, though they are now
CO of the Portsoken Volunteers
only deployed for ceremonial duties.
The CO asked me to do a portrait of him for part of my final year’s work, which is rather fun, but will be a long, multi-stage job.
Here is a drawing I did of him relaxing, in his splendid uniform.
It is a priviledge to have very very talented tutors to look at one’s work. Here is the latest modification to Jean’s portrait.
In the quest to get to grips with how important abstraction is to true expressiveness in my art, I experimented with a painting based on some sketchbook images I made of goldfinches feeding on thistles in my garden on a bright windy Autumn day. In the process, I think I have started to really understand just how brilliantly innovative JMW Turner really was. Not that I am setting myself up as a rival you understand. I have called it “the Charm” after the Victorian collective noun for these birds.
In the summer, I was asked to submit for the above exhibition for Alumni, Staff and Students of the Academy. It is always rewarding to learn when your work attracts some attention, and an impressionistic picture of a trout seems to have found favour with a purchaser. Here is a similar picture I have done recently. I am looking to describe an impression in brilliant sunshine.
Jean is my wife. We decided to get married after we had known each other for a week in 1976. I hope this picture conveys her dignity and poise, and the significance of her being “interested” whilst sitting in our small local church talking to Mary ( Churchwarden). For me, just painting a person is never going to be enough. I want to paint the person “being the person.
Just to make the point that I haven’t sold out totally to portraiture (at least, conventional portraiture) I return to animals and birds for a moment. This is a portrait of an otter, as its character is an essential part of what I wish to convey. Interestingly, the biggest challenge was to paint it into the environment on the river Tyne in which it was observed. The River Tyne is much more than shipyards at its mouth. It is a beautiful river of ther purest quality, known as the best Salmon river in England by some. Lots of it is in deep woody gorges with thick vegetation. The water is dark and peaty. Glimpses of Otters are usually fleeting, as they are very wary.
The abstract design of this picture is, for me, the most important part of it, though I am satisfied that the otter (caught out, on a rock) is fairly convincing.
The next effort was to paint a friend who runs a swing band. This was made with oil paint, a different challenge. The overall composition didn’t work very well, but here is a detail.
Leader of Salisbury Swing Band
Being surrounded by teachers who are formidably good at portrait and figure painting has inspired me to have a go.
So last year I tried out with a water colour portrait of my brother. Robin is a character, and a well known Salmon fisherman on the river Wye, as well as being one of a dying breed of Master Saddle Makers.
David J Coleman 