The mood of the moment

The painting that illustrates today's post shared a similar fate to the painting that illustrates page 35 in the latest installment of my book Notes on the Nude. Their common fate being that I considered both paintings a failure and cast them aside. However, as often happens, what I first perceive as a failure in retrospect I deem a success. For this reason I never destroy work no matter how tempting my initial urge to discard and have done with it. 

My watercolours of the female nude are as far removed from a photographic likeness as you can get. In a matter of  minutes my task is to capture the mood of the moment. Just as I seldom recognize my models outside of the studio, I sometimes have difficulty - unless I make a note on the day of the session - relating models to paintings. In this case I am almost certain that the painting on page 35 of my book is of Annabelle and the painting above is of Saryta. 

In Pursuit of Beauty

This week's installment from my book Notes on the Nude touches upon the pursuit of beauty, which in turn involves my endless search for models. 

A hundred and fifty years ago artists in Paris had the advantage of a weekly model market from which they could pick and choose. Alas, there is no such market on my island of Dominica but a like Rodin, Renoir and scores of artists from the past I have found many of my best models serving behind the counter in a five and ten cents store. 

When I looked in at one such store this morning I didn't find what wanted to buy - I've even forgot what it was - but I did find the attractive young lady pictured below. She is now on my list of potential models.

Irving Berlin beautifully expressed the virtuous attraction of an attractive young lady in his lyrics for the score of the 1920's Broadway Revue "Ziegfeld Follies".

A pretty girl is like a melody
That haunts you night and day
Just like the strain
Of a haunting refrain
She'll start upon a marathon and run around your brain...

Rapid response

A reoccurring message in my book Notes on the Nude is the need for a rapid response to the model's moods and changes. Whereas a watercolour might take me twenty minutes, the line drawing above was put down in twenty seconds. But either way, there's no time to worry about right or wrong. Better to capture the fleeting moment and leave moral judgement to the critics. 

My painting titled Model with hand to Pudendum featured in this week's installment of the book is a case in point. How glad I am that I seized the moment.

Sensuous similarities

There are similarities between the beauty of the human form and church architecture. Like many artists before me, I am passionate about both. I touch upon this in forthcoming installments of my book Notes on the Nude. But for now I will leave you with the following paintings. 

First the human beauty of the standing nude and alongside, similarities in the drama of church architecture.

And second, the similarities in the peace and tranquility that I find within my studio and a churchyard. This holds true even though the church rubs shoulders with recent town center development, as does the Halifax Parish Church.

Body and Soul

As I stated in my dedication to Notes on the Nude without my model's contribution to the creative process my paintings and sculptures would not exist. They have given their body and soul to my work. 

This week's serialization of the book features paintings of my models Peal and Annabelle. Here they are captured by my camera. Whether by painting, sculpture and photograph, their remarkable beauty shines through. That isn't to say that I am searching for beauty queens. Many of my best models you would pass on the street without a second glance. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder - and the artist is the beholder.

Pearl

Annabelle

The photographs were taken as the model's reference for the pose for a sculpture. 

A recent message from Pearl reads, It was a pleasure working with you.

Why Nude?

The latest serialization of pages from my book Notes on the Nude ends with the question "Why Nude". 

The note refers specifically to my attempt to rid Afro-Caribbean women of foreign concepts of facial features and dress. But the question has a broader significance.

Dress is subject to fashion but the beauty of nude remains constant. What is deemed fashionable today becomes out of date by tomorrow.  

The question "Why Nude" was raised when a party of primary school children visited my studio as work on my sculpture for the City of Leeds was still at the preliminary nude stage. During the visit one girl put her hand up and indignantly asked: "My Burnett, why are your statues so RUDE!" There followed an informed class debate on why the artist works from the nude. Their eventual understanding could have put many art degree students to shame.

Spot the difference

First Image

Second Image

Two images: I invite you to spot the difference.

Both are works on paper. The first is an original; the second is a lithograph print, number 19 of an edition of 100. 

The first has remained unsold at US$625.00 since 2001 and the second sold recently at Sotherby's for US$6,250.00.

A CLUE: The first is by Roger Burnett and the second by Tracey Emin.

The first is included in my book Notes on the Nude.

How to keep a secret

There is a saying on my Caribbean island of Dominica, that if you want to keep something secret, publish it in a book!

While this blog daily attracts hundreds of artists and art students from around the world, the sidebar link that takes you to the on-line serialization of my book Notes on the Nude is seldom clicked and the exploits of artist and models remain a closely guarded secret.The secrets this week include the agony and the ecstasy of giving birth to a painting that has involved a struggle against the odds. 

Now for another secret! 

My book Townscapes is finally available from Amazon. 

The book begins with my native town of Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire and ends with the towns and villages of my adopted Caribbean. Between the two I take a brief sojourn to Portugal and revisit Birmingham’s restored canal network. The book ends with a series of essays that express my concern about the present trend in Caribbean townscapes. 

For further information go to: studiopublications.blogspot.com