Under my nose

Each morning, when I open my studio door, this is the view that greets me. Within the confusion of its component parts, right there under my nose, in the first rays of sunlight, are countless subjects for my paintings. Furthermore, unlike the complication of arranging and paying for a model, they are there for the asking.

Breaking the Ice

A rough note jotted down on paper.

A video I am working on is about the creative relationship between artist and model. It begins with a twenty minute trail session for a new model. The purpose of the session is to break the ice. I spend most of the session giving the model words of encouragement. The painting is secondary; it amounts to no more than a rough note jotted down on paper. The challenge is how to capture the hesitancy of both artists and model in random words and fleeting moving images. I know what I'm after, but achieving it won't be easy. 

Annihilating a whole oppressive culture.

The girl with dark hair was coming towards him across the field. With what seemed a single movement she tore off her clothes and flung them disdainfully aside. Her body was white and smooth, but it aroused no desire in him, indeed he barely looked at it. What overwhelmed him in that instant was admiration for the gesture with which she had thrown her clothes aside. With all its grace and carelessness it seemed to annihilate a whole oppressive culture, a whole system of thought. (George Orwell, 1984) 

Life-size sculpture of my idylic bathing figure.

My 1989 diary refers to a similar scene while sketching on a riverside in Grenada.

One day, a young woman, undeterred by the teasing of her mates, planted down her basket of washing on a boulder close to my chosen spot.  I rapidly made sketch after sketch until she had scrubbed, beaten, and rinsed her last item.   But her day’s wash didn’t end there, for she next deftly took off her dress and added that to the wash.  Then, unabashed, she soaped herself down and - using a calabash bowl as a ladle - knelt and poured the cooling river water over her naked body.

Prêt-à-porter

Robert Altman’s film Prêt-à-Porter is a stylish and sexy satire on the fashion industry.  The catwalk scene with a difference brought home to me what I've been getting at all along, that being: the human body is less sexually alluring nude than when scantily dressed. 

For the fashion houses the catwalk model has to be devoid of personality. She serves only as a stereotype clothes hanger. But what we see here is a refreshing change. No high heels, no make-up, no spindly ectomorphic figures, no weird costumes. Nothing distracts from the innocent beauty of the nude. The scene bowled me over and made me realise that my interest is not in fashion per se, but in the beauty that lies beneath.  

The nude is truely prêt-à-porter (ready to wear). 

ÔøΩ ÔøΩphanous

 

The bronze torso of my wife Denise drapped with clinging cotton voile.

Diaphanous is derived from the Greek word diaphanes. The prefix dia- means "through", and ÔøΩ ÔøΩphanous means "to show or to make visible". Thus, diaphanous translates directly as "to show through". 

Clinging drapery on the nude figure is a sensuous device that reveals rather than conceals. The scantily clad figure is more sexually provocative than the nude. By partially concealing the model’s attributes by what the French call Draperie mouillée the nude form becomes all the more alluring. It also suggests movement.

This leads me back to my Bare Minimum fashion designs and the allurement of the fleeting glimpse. A video of the collection is one of my works in progress. The word ''video'' is appropriate as it is derived from the Latin videre ''to see''.

Venus Genetrix (Roman, 100-200 A.D.) 

Based on a Greek sculpture created in about 410 B.C.

Out of the blue

There is a connection between my sculpture for the West Yorkshire town of Sowerby Bridge, my painting of the Yorkshire moors, and the photograph of my mother (first on left) when she worked as a mill girl in the Yorkshire mills.

The connection is a request that came a few days ago out of the pale blue of my native West Riding of Yorkshire and into the brilliant blue of my adopted Caribbean. 

That's all for now, but I will connect the dots in a future blog post.

The subtleties of the nude

Continuing my experiments in allowing the photograph, the painting and the sculpture to blend as one. Today's image is from my video of sculptures in my series Daughters of the Caribbean Sun. It could equally represent a screen shot of my brain as I struggle to capture the subtleties of the nude.

My book Notes on the Nude records a lifetime's triumphs and tribulations of working from the live model.

Now you see it, now you don't...

As I mentioned in my last post, to promote and find funding for a forthcoming documentary on the creative relationship between artist and model, I am faced with the curse of social media censors. However, by combining the painted image with the photographed image, both of which are to be seen in motion, I may be able to avoid the degrading compromise of pixilation. This still image from my most recent video is an experiment in that direction.

But censorship apart, those of us that live and work in out-of-the-way places, have no access to many of the platforms that promote the work of creative artists; Esty and Kickstarter being prime examples. The reason being that they don't recognize countries that fall outside their area of activity. Amazon/Kindle will accept us lessor mortals, but at the price of creaming off most of the profits from a sale. 

It is these restrictions that motivated the formation of Studio Publications. It comes to you direct from my studio on small island in the Caribbean. 

Perverting the virtuous

Detail of a photo by Dwayne Martin of model Shana Wonder. 

The circling of Dwayne Martin's innocent photograph of his model Shana Wonder is mine. It is not done to despoil his picture but to draw attention to how the profound beauty of the nude is degraded by social media censors. Thankfully, blogger stands aloof from such practices, but other platforms demand this compromise if they are to carry mention of the artist's and model's work.

The curse of this compromise came to my mind today when I began to search for supportive organisations for a documentary video that will explore the creative relationship between artist and model. It will follow in the footsteps of my book Notes on the Nude. But as my book has been blocked by the major online publisher, my chances of finding a supportive platform that is free from compromise are slim.  

My foray into video short territory

The opening title of my latest video.

In the time it has taken me to get my first YouTube Short video up and running I could have captured and painted a dozen models. Soundtrack copyright and working in a vertical format were the delaying factors. My usual classic jazz recordings violated copyright and my models prefer reclining to standing. 

My foray into video short territory was somewhat hesitant, but nothing ventured nothing win.  
 

The bare essentials

 

One of Erwin Blumenfeld's iconic minimalistic covers for the Vogue magazine.

The Man Who Shot Beautiful Women is a remarkable documentary about the life and work of the revolutionary fashion photographer Erwin Blumenfeld (1897-1969). His work is an object lesson on how to break every rule in the book with aplomb.

On occasions my own work has sort similar effects. As with the face of my model in this painting.

A detail from my painting of Naomi

A new look and new content

From 3,000 miles away my son Tristan has been burning the midnight oil designing and building a new version of my website: studiopublications.org  

This time around, in addition to books, the site includes my paintings, sculptures and videos. And there's more sections to follow. This makes the contents of my studio all the more accessible to the wider world. 

Thanks to ''Discord'' we've been able to work together online. I can give him access to my computer, sit back, and watch the mouse run around like magic while he accesses files and makes adjustments.

Tristan's come along way in the twenty-two years since I made this sculpture of him at age eight months.

Daughters of the Caribbean Sun

The opening image is taken from my recently released video of sculptures in the series Daughters of the Caribbean Sun. 

In the video I have interlaced images of my models and preliminary sketches as a means of enabling the viewer to enter the creative process. 

Stretching my model to the limit.

This small sculpture took a large effort on the part of artist and model. Holding the pose, even for a few seconds, stretched my model to the limit, and depicting it as a sculpture stretched me to the limit. But it is the speed of execution that gives it life. There is no time for playing about with detail. 

Access to forbidden territory (Updated)

Torso

Sculpture allows me a degree of access what would otherwise be forbidden social media territory. Thus, I can share with the world this lifesize torso of my wife Denise. Words are superfluous when it comes to the sensuous beauty of the nude.

Yesterday, to the horror of many, a cruise ship devoted to naturists made an inaugural visit to Dominica. I offered my studio as a venue but the island's tourist board failed to sanction my location. Perhaps the paintings and sculptures in my series ”Daughters of the Caribbean Sun” are too revealing. Although my island is promoted as the Nature Isle of the Caribbean, going back to nature is frowned upon.  

The visit resulted in two conflicting comments in the island's online newspaper.

Nudity, is nothing new in Dominica, as far as I can remember it is in our culture! I don’t know how many times as a kid I saw male and female bathing in the Roseau River together. In our innocent years, people bathe above the old Bridge, and below the new Bridge naked as they were born, they were people of all ages. Interestingly rape was not on the male agenda...

This nude bathing you’re referring to was as a result of poverty. It had nothing to do with culture. Folks were simply unable to afford some swim wear. This is 2025 and we’re now capable of purchasing swim wear. Also, we’re now more aware of what is considered ‘civilized behavior’, we’re not animals therefore this nude stuff is not going to fly in Dominica. Let those tourists keep their nude behavior practices in their places of origin.

I agree wholeheartedly with the first writer and totally disagree with the second.