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. 

Reflecting on reflections

Reflections

Reflections is the theme and title of my seated figure that was one of two sculptures commissioned by the Macmillan Cancer Appeal for the Royal Calderdale Hospital. The concept of a figure gazing down into a fathomless pool was my model's idea. The second sculpture was of a nude figure emerging from a vortex of autumn leaves and titled, ''You Must Believe In Spring''. From the shadow of death and despair my figures sang to high heaven in praise of the beauty of life. But depicting the beauty of the human form can be controversial.  My book ''Notes on the Nude'' tells of the uproar my innocent figures caused with the National Health Board of Trustees.

Reflections Detail

You Must Believe In Spring

''Reflections'' is also the title of Sheila Hydnman's collected poems, a facsimile of which is contained in my book ''Sheila Hyndman Remembered''. But alas, my remembrance of Sheila has fared no better than my nude figures. As one of the Caribbean foremost poets Sheila is given scant recognition in the islands of her birth.

Experiments in patination and a dram of Scotch whisky

Life-size reclining figure in high relief.

I've been experimenting with patinating the master plaster cast of my life-size figure of Annabelle. The sculpture is modelled in high relief and I have patinated the figure in dark bronze. But the surround of the figure has taxed my ingenuity. Setting the figure against the white of the plaster cast results in too much contrast of one against the other, whereas extending the same bronze patination to the surround, deprives the sculpture of life. 

The answer to the dilemma lies in the fact that bronze can be patinated in all the tints of autumn. To achieve this effect, I have used pastels to colour the white plaster ground. And this is where a dram of Scotch whisky comes into the picture. The traditional formula for fixing pastels is casein (a protein derived from milk) mixed with grain alcohol. My regular tipple of rum is made from cane, not grain, and will not do.

The photograph makes the pastel patina appear lighter than it actually is. In reality the colours are richer and darker. 

Regular followers will remember my many posts of the work in progress from clay to plaster.

Avert your gaze

The Nipple

I advise those with a Facebook account to avert their gaze from the opening image. My sculpture depicts that which is censored on social media; that being, the female nipple. That such beauty should be considered immoral, speaks volumes about society's moral standards.  Just like the stars and planets, the nipple is central to the universe.

My video ''Variations on a Theme'' reveals more beauty that is hidden in the name of decency.

Capturing the Caribbean

Road Town, British Virgin Islands.

 

The above watercolour is one of hundreds that I made over a twenty year period while sailing the Caribbean. It is featured in my latest video Capturing the Caribbean.  

My paintings were sold there and then, and only occasionally was I able to photograph a painting before a buyer whipped it away. All I have left are faded photographs and colour transparencies that have deteriorated in the heat and humidity of the tropics. Restoring the images has been a major task, as can be gauged from  the "before" detail shown below. The millions of mysterious dots may have been caused by a chemical reaction within the emulsion. Perhaps related to a fault in processing. I welcome feedback on the issue.

What's in a name?

 

Halifax Parish Church

Twenty-five years ago, the Halifax Parish Church, in status and name, became the Halifax Minster. It is a Grade 1 Listed Building, which means, the physical structure can't be messed about with. I only wish that the listing protected its name. For me, it always was and always will be, the Halifax Parish Church. As yet, its soot blackened walls haven't been stripped bare and robbed of their patina by the destructive process of stone cleaning. But doubtless, that day will come.

I hope that the Church Guardians push for status and respectability will not obliterate a remarkable grave stone that paves the entrance. It commemorate a man who fathered 19 children and fought in the wars for 25 years. I quote both figures as "thereabouts'' because I last visited the church thirty-five years ago. At that time, I was up on the roof inspecting the gargoyles. Perhaps a collector of images of the West Riding's built heritage, will leg it down the church and send me a photograph of the gravestone.

In the years of my apprenticeship, the church grounds offered a short cut to work and the equally historic Ring O' Bells Pub, that conveniently stands just outside the church gates, was the venue for the work's darts and dominoes team. But alas the pub's soot blackened walls have been whitewashed and the cobbled yard converted into a beer garden. 

Celebrating Sheila Hyndman

 

My 2024 blog posts broke all previous records, with viewers from 200 countries. In December alone the blog statistics recorded almost 10,000 hits, and each hit accessing multiple page views. Not bad for a niche subject! 

All the more gratifying is the worldwide interest in the posts that celebrate the life and work of my dear friend Sheila Hyndman. They include:

Sheila Hyndman Remembered; Curiouser and Curiouser and, Nor shall death drag thou wander'st in his shade.

The opening image is of one of the paintings I made to illustrate the novel Sheila was working on at the time of her death.

In the beginning

Taking delivery of Brookfoot, with family and friends aboard.

The "About Me" in the sidebar reads: 

60 years ago I gave up a secure job in engineering design and declared myself an artist on the pavements of France.

What it doesn't tell you about is the purchase and conversion of an eighty ton coal barge that made the transition possible. My blog post titled Grab a chance and you won’t be sorry for a might have been…  tells you a little more about that daring escape to freedom. The post includes a photograph of Brookfoot on the day I purchased her just after she had discharged her last cargo of coal to the Thornhill Power Station.

 

My blog posts How it all Began and I Will Repent Tomorrow say more about those early days. I quote:

Having freed myself of a mortgage and nine to five job I declared myself an artist on the pavements of France. My wife Norma and two year old daughter Diana shared those precarious days. For all its hardships, it was an idyllic lifestyle. My sketches were the songs for our supper and when we had exhausted the possibilities of one location, we sailed on to the next.  

The picture below shows Brookfoot passing through the lock at Boston en route for the French Canals. Norma and Di are looking on.

And finally, here she is, safely moored on the canal side at Bruges.

Before and after

The above painting is from the 1982 Peter Island Collection

In 1982, the American billionaire Richard de Voss, commissioned me to paint 32 paintings of his Caribbean island domain. He liked the collection to the extent that in 1995, he commissioned a further 32 paintings. The first series was painted when I was in the depths of a creative low, and I wouldn't give tuppence for it. On the other hand, the second series was created when I was on the brink of a creative high and contained what I consider to be the best of my lifetime's work. It came as no surprise that Richard de Voss preferred the contrived first series to the lyrical second. 

What came between the two was my muse, Sheila Hyndman. Thank you Sheila for reawakening my creative vision. I also give thanks to my studio assistant Alice and my wife Denise for enabling my subsequent transition to the figurative. 

From the 1995 Peter Island Collection

The above blurred images are taken from colour transparencies that have done their best to survive the ravages of the tropics. They are all that is left, for doubt that any of the paintings survived the disastrous 2017 hurricane.