Be careful what you wish for

I keep reminding myself to be careful what I wish for. As an engineering apprentice in the 1950's I was envious of the inventive engineers of earlier times who had to put their hands to all things. Both my grandfathers worked as engineers at the tail end of the 19th century. I have inherited many of their tools and their skills are in my genes. Enoch, the city of Bradford's factotum, was as adept at repairing clocks and restoring musical instruments as he was at winning war medals for efficiency at the forge.

But it was not until I located my studio and workshop to the small Caribbean island of Dominica sixteen years ago that I got what I wished for. My machine tools - some of which are as old as I am - make the replacement parts that keep the island going. Moreover, the income the work generates keeps me going. 

On the other hand, it means my paintings and sculptures have to be put on hold, so I have to be careful what I wish for.

 

My grandfather Enoch Burnett

It's been a while

A message from one of my models begins: "It's been a while". For the rest of the world life was put on hold with the beginning of the pandemic over eighteen months ago. But for those of us on the Caribbean island of Dominica our life change came about four years ago with the worst hurricane on record. Since then it's been one thing after another and my models are now scattered far and wide.

These diary pages began in the 1990's, before the days of blogs, with the intent of setting down in words and images the trials and tribulations that are the lot of those who toil upon the forge of art. It has been said that, however much skill an artist may develop in later life, it cannot result in great work if, by that time, he has settled down to a measure of contentment. Regardless of a degree of success along the way, as I approach eighty, I have not yet arrived at a state of complacency. 

The opening picture is what remains of my first life-size figure. The cast now languishes in a corner of my workshop. The subject is my wife Denise and the picture below shows work in progress twenty-five years ago. I had a lot to learn...and still do.

Sensual pleasures

As with Rodin, it has been said the sculptor Ralph Brown (1928-2013) sort ways to express sensual pleasure. He also had an obsession for the veiled face and today's face masks may have held a curious fascination for him. 

Girl with Knee Raised Ralph Brown 1977

Cache-Cache Ralph Brown 1983 

Ralph Brown came to prominence in the 1950's with his public sculpture Meat Porters and figures in an earthier style.

Mother and Child  Ralph Brown 1954

A gauge to measure beauty by.

It has been said that the craftsman's eye is a gauge to measure beauty by. It therefore follows that good design is more likely to be the product of the workbench rather than the drawing board. The designers of our cathedrals served their apprenticeship as stone masons - Michael Angelo included. Thomas Chippendale was the son of a carpenter and began his career as a journeyman cabinet maker.

The case of piano that I am presently restoring dates from the 1950's, a period when interior design was hellbent on boxing in and straightening out any suggestion of paneling or curvature. The end result was either veneered or painted in gloss magnolia. 

The original supports for the keyboard were so obnoxious that yesterday I tore them apart and substituted ones with kindlier lines - at least to my craftsman's eye.

Before and After

I would never have guessed

 

The above painting is of Collean at her first modelling session. It was made in a matter of minutes, its purpose was to break the ice between model and artist. I cast it aside and it was only after reviewing it years later that I realized the painting captured the shyness of modelling for the first time. I might add, on a first session I am as nervous as the model.

The painting below is of the same model four years later, at ease and brimming with confidence - likewise the artist. Very often it is those who by nature are shy and reserved that throw decorum to the winds and become the most daring - myself included. 

I always suspected that Collean had creative potential but I never would have guessed that this reticent young lady's own mode of expression would be talking intimately on camera. Not many can do it naturally. Creativity is something different to what has gone before. As such there is risk involved and many mistakes to be made along the way. But as Collean says, I'm learning and getting better. 

Here she is dispelling the myths of what others think.