Visions of a Paradise Lost

The above is one of scores of sketches that I made forty years ago on a secluded beach in the British Virgin Islands. In those days the beach only saw the occasional footprints of those from the nearby village. The picture below shows the beach as it is today.

But worse is yet to come...  

The government has just signed a contract for the construction of a vending zone inclusive of 6 vending units, including 3 scaled for full service restaurants and bar operations, an outdoor eating and entertainment area and an administrative area to support the beach management function.

Fifty years ago the Virgin Island poet Sheila Hyndman prophesied the future in her poem Visions of a Paradise Lost. 

My shores stripped bare, 

My precious mangroves destroyed,

My seas poisoned,

My own descendants have sold me into slavery.

Fiddling While Rome Burns

Celebrating Dominica's 46 years of Independence.

I had in mind a painting on the theme of this post, but I've been too busy making emergency modifications to one of the island's water pumps. At least the community it serves can now celebrate having running water. A message from the water company's Head of Engineering reads as follows:

I greatly appreciate the professionalism with which you carry out your work. Many thanks for your speedy fabrication and modification of the parts. They are already installed and working. Thanks again for your excellent work.

If only the same appreciation could be shown for my attempts to have art and creativity high on the Ministry of Education's agenda. Out of 16 secondary schools on the island, only one acknowledged my offer of help. 

On the other hand, I've just received a message from a school in Bangladesh thanking me for my blog posts, books and videos.  

A move in the right direction.

 

My Notes for Lifeclass Students & Models and Notes for Art Students & Aspiring Artists.

A year ago I said goodbye to Amazon and became my own online publisher. It was a move in the right direction. They can no longer dip their hand into the proceeds from sales and dictate what they deem is permissible. 

As with my videos, it has been a steep learning curve, but with my son's help on the computer, I'm over the top. The books, as with my paintings and sculptures, are a work in progress. I update them as new ideas come to mind. For the price of US$5.00 readers have the benefit of my lifetime's experience and in turn, I welcome feedback on their creative triumphs and tribulations. 

My intention is to put passion back into art. I want to lure aspiring artists away from overly focusing on technique and slavishly copying from photographs. So be warned, the books are not for the faint hearted. I can already hear the scratching of censorious pens. 

With over 100 illustrations, Notes on the Nude compliments the books that opened this post.  

All of my books can be viewed and purchased at Studio Publications.

The Importance of Art & Creativity in Schools

Click on image to view video. If that fails, use this link: https://youtu.be/JEN2bpSbwzI

In Caribbean schools, as in many other places in the world, art is placed on the back burner turned down low. In my latest video I make a plea for placing it on the front burner turned up high.

Models, where art thou?

The model at a fleeting glance.

Before paper, paint and brushes, I need a model to inspire. In recent years, models on my small island of Dominica, have been few and far between. What with being blown away by hurricanes and going on to university, all have moved on. 

To give courage to those who may be tempted, all who have modelled for me over the past forty years give assurance that they cherish happy memories of being part of the creative process. 

A recent article of mine titled, Growing Old Disgracefully directed hundreds of Dominicans to my blog. Perhaps, within their numbers is my next inspirational model. 

Three remarkable ladies

Diane Lawrenson's sculpture of Anne Lister

The first of my remarkable ladies is Anne Lister who in earlier times lived within a mile of the village where I spent my childhood and teenage years.

The second, is Helena Whitbread. She also spent her childhood within a few miles of Anne Lister's home. Helena tells of her research into the life of Anne Lister, and of her own inspirational life story in two excellent video documentaries. One about Anne Lister  and the other, about her own life.   

The third is sculptress Diane Lawrenson. I award her sculpture my best alcollade, that being, I wish I'd have created that!

I can relate to what Diane says about her work.

To be a figurative sculptor working in a medium as eternal and solid as bronze, calls for extraordinary practical abilities and creative ambition. This is the medium of Rodin and the Renaissance masters. It requires experience and understanding of the alchemy: of turning flesh into clay, clay into metal and through a process of moulding, casting, refining and patination, resulting in a form and texture that conjures up the human presence once more.

I remember Shiden Hall, the home of Anne Lister, from school trips. But in those days lesbian relationships were not talked about. Our lesson began and ended with the history of the hall.

The Art of Suggestiveness

 My latest video is not for the faint hearted; and in particular, it is not for the faint hearted painters in watercolour. My brush dribbles and drips, and runs run amok, as I attempt to capture the naked beauty of the models in my series, Daughters of the Caribbean Sun.

The model featured in the video's title image, is the same model that is featured in one of my paintings that has been selected for a forthcoming definitive book on the nude in contemporary art. A message from the publishers reads:

The selection process for the book was incredibly competitive. However, your work stood out and sparked passionate discussions.  

Without models my work would not exist. That you Collean. I am pleased that the publishers have rewarded you for the afternoon when you sweltered under the tropical sun while I made this painting.

 

Collean

The suggestiveness of a sketch

A still from my forthcoming video The Suggestiveness of a Sketch

In art suggestiveness refers to the ability of a painting to be open to multiple interpretations, thus allowing viewers to enter the creative process and see the subject from their own perspective. 

In my way of painting, suggestiveness comes from giving watercolours the freedom they deserve. I allow washes to run as they may, and in doing so they add their own contribution. Speed, daring and an open mind are of the essence.

In Triplicate

 

Three preliminary clay sketches depicting Thea LaFond winning 

an Olympic Gold Medal for Dominica in the Triple Jump. 

After weeks of work, on the modelling stand in my studio are preliminary clay sketches depicting Thea LaFond winning an Olympic Gold Medal for Dominica in the Triple Jump. 

I have faced the difficulty of portraying rapid movement without the aid of flowing drapery and how to position the figures, from hop, to skip, to jump, so that at a fleeting glance they are seen as one in their flight above ground.

All I had for reference was a video clip showing Thea in action. By viewing the video hundreds of times at quarter speed, I was able to capture the essence of the few seconds between the hop, the skip and the jump. Below are some of the sketches I made from the video and my clay sketch of the final jump.

What happens next, is in the lap of the gods, or more correctly, in the lap of committees.

Creating an illusion

Work in progress on a quarter lifesize maquette of a figure in motion.

The ultimate challenge for the figurative sculptor is that of a figure in motion. I alluded to this my post The Curse of Committees.  E. H. Gombrich in his book "Art & Illusion" writes to the effect:

...Paintings and sculptures have more beauty and greater force when they are a sketch than when they are finished...sketches express an idea in a few strokes...while a laboured effect and too much industry deprives it of force. It is an art in which the artist's skill in suggesting must be matched with the public's skill at taking hints. The literal-minded Philistine is excluded from this closed circle.  

Herein lies my challenge. Not with a single figure, but with a series of three figures that show the transition from one position to the next. You can then add the difficulty of retaining the spontaneity when enlarging the maquettes to lifesize. There will be more about this in forthcoming posts.

The sculptor Auguste Rodin was passionately interested in movement. The maquette shown below is one of a series he made on the theme of dance. 

Dance Movement "A". Rodin Museum, Paris.

 

A partly-teachable art

An image from my latest video: Your Hands Fashioned and Made Me.

Cedric Watts, in his introduction to James Joyce's novel Ulysses (an 81st birthday present to myself) he refers to the author's art of seeing or making connections between apparently unconnected entities. He refers to it as, a partly-teachable art.

He also suggests that: 

Feelings of elation and depression may affect our reflections, but in themselves they are non-verbal. Some of our sensations are simply visual, aural, tactile or olfactory. If we write an essay we become conscious of an effort to translate none-verbal ideas into words; sometimes the words don't fit, so we have to try again, matching the verbal to the notional, and often modifying the notion in the process.

I find the same applies to my paintings and sculptures. To some extent the moving image gets around the problem. Hence, my experiments with videos. 

James Joyce also had a fascination with the potential of film.  

The Curse of Committees

My preliminary sketch for a life-size sculpture of a rugby player diving for a try.

Twenty-five years ago I was asked to enter a competition for sculptures for the West Yorkshire town of Dewsbury. The brief was for two sculptures standing side by side; one depicting a 20th century rugby player and the other a 19th century mill girl. I told the judging committee (the members of which wouldn't have known a sculpture if one fell on their heads) that I found the combination and static pose ludicrous. 

As a result of my uncalled for advice, the committee made short shrift of my submission of a rugby player diving for a try and mill girls running out of the factory gates with their shawls flying.

The winning Dewsbury entry is shown below in situ.

All this comes about because I have at the back of my mind a sculpture of an athlete motion. 

Your hands fashioned and made me. (Part Two)

Following my post Your hands fashioned and made me today's picture shows work in progress on the bas relief that will be the subject of my next video. The clay to the side of the figure is what I take from so as to keep its workability the same as the rest. It serves as my pallet.

Below is the scaled preparatory drawing that I made from my initial sketch. The drawing is half size and I use proportional callipers to transfer it to the clay.

I saw it on the radio!

The topic for debate was right up my street, but the line up of panelists left a lot to be desired: poets, writers, painters, playwrights and calypsonians were excluded. 

For those who create in the comfort zone, there is freedom of creative and artistic expression. However, for those that step outside the boundaries of what's deemed acceptable, censorship - in one form or another - is alive and well. A conglomeration of different dance styles, photos that celebrate the natural beauty of the island, modest innovations in fashion and Dominica's "Princess of Song", fall well within the comfort zone. 

In terms of what's deemed permissible, it's the island's perception of culture that sets the boundaries, and you will note that the debate was organised by the Government's Division of Culture. In the Caribbean, culture is something everyone feels comfortable with, whereas art challenges the norm and is potentially controversial. 

Criticism of the arts is limited to saying something nice. Dominican playwright Alwin Bully (1948-2023) once told me that to get objective reviews of his work, he had on occasions resorted to anonymously writing his own. But they were sent back with a message to say that the editor considers the review too negative of the playwright's work and he wouldn't dream of insulting Alwin by publishing.   

The absence of public transport after dark prevented me from attending, but I was sort of able to follow the discussing via its broadcast on the island's radio station. I say "sort of" because two of the panelists gave a PowerPoint presentations. It reminded me of a brilliant promotional advertisement put out by a Virgin Island radio station fifty years ago: I saw it on the radio!

Today's Master Class

Zeke

Today's sculpture studio master class is being conducted by my grandson Zeke. He has a passion for painting and the picture shows him instructing members of his play school on the finer points of brushwork. My daughter says, He paints his heart away and everyone stands around to watch him. It brings joy to my heart, just like his grandad.  

As Pablo Picasso said, It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.