Autumnal Painting

I've been having a busy time, and I've not been adding to this blog as often as I'd like, so I'm going to attempt to write this Blog more like a diary - time permitting. Hopefully it will give an idea of the 'bigger picture' of my life as an artist, including my personal projects, insights into some of the artists involved in the Bridport Art Scene, my experience of our Open events, what is happening at St Michael's Studios and on the St Michael's Trading Estate, and my thoughts about many artists I admire, as well as my own intentions for the future of the Art World.

I must say that after a really busy summer, I've been enjoying having a quieter autumn. One of the things I love about living in Bridport is how everything calms down after the tourist season. The local community is still buzzing around and all the locals are out and about, but everything feels more relaxed. I was out in the sun this afternoon and I bumped into a friend who has recently moved here from London. He still hasn't got his head around how laid back every one is down here, but that's one of the joys of Bridport. In London the energy can be really good because it motivates everyone, whereas in the country the energy is at a more 'natural' pace, so you really have to motivate yourself, but it's easy once you get the hang of it.

For the last couple of weeks I've been working on a life-size Drip Figure of a local woman. I just completed the second layer last night, and the painting is now drying flat on it's back. I use a very unpredictable technique for making my drip figures, so it's all about preparation and then working with paint that is literally falling off the canvas. The chaos involved in the process means that the results are always surprising, and this one is no exception.

My drip figures are really about creating the 'presence' of a person, and the drip techniques I use mean that the image has a sense of movement and transience, just as our bodies are never quite still, and changing from moment to moment. I also like the way that my drip figures confront the viewer rather than being purely voyeuristic in character.

Now that I've done the second layer I've got to wait a few days for it to dry before doing the third layer, and my thoughts have gone back to my landscape painting 'view from Leweston Hill'. I haven't touched the canvas today, as it's actually quite difficult to switch back and forth between my drip figures and landscapes ( since there's a very different dynamic involved in each of them) but I've been working out what to do when I get back to it.

The Leweston Hill painting is based on the view from the third in the long range of three hills that I've been painting that runs from Lamberts Castle (near Hawkchurch), through Pilsden Pen (near Marshwood) to Leweston (near Broadwindsor). It's an amazing hill, the highest in the region, and has a magical feel to it.

I'm painting these landscapes because I feel a deep emotional connection to the Dorset countryside. I grew up in North Dorset, next to a farm in the middle of nowhere, so my appreciation of nature feels very natural. Now that I've been to London and moved back to Dorset, my love of the landscape continues to grow. I have a great admiration for many landscape painters, particularly the pioneers of the genre - 16th Century Dutch painters like Ruisdael and De Koninck, as well as Turner, Constable, the Hudson River painters, and the great Romantic painters like Casper Friedrich, the Barbizon painters, and of course Cezanne. However, I've yet to see the landscape painted quite the way I feel and experience it, and so that is what I am going to do.

BOS 09

"Marshwood Clouds", oil on canvas, 48"x22", 2007-8

This year's Bridport Open Studios event was by far the busiest we've had, with about 750 visitors to St Michael's Studios over the three days. We were also featured on BBC Spotlight and Radio Solent, and had lots of features on us in magazines and newspapers.

It's been amazing for all of us to experience the growth of the Bridport Art Scene over the past few years. It's been a very organic process, led by the artists, and supported by both local people and keen collectors from across the country.

We also have to work very hard, both to maintain our visibility in the media and also to keep raising the standard of our work and justify the reputation of our art scene.

I also love the Open Studios events because this format has allowed me to focus on making the best work I'm capable of, rather than feeling compromised by the commercial requirements and time constraints of galleries and art fairs.

I now dedicate myself to realising my most ambitious ideas, working on most paintings for at least six months and often for over a year. When you look back at the great painters throughout history, you see incredibly accomplished works that would have taken months to achieve, and I now want to do the same. I want to create art that can stand beside the masters, works that demand my greatest skill and dedication, and paintings that push Art to the next level.

I've also become a lot more critical of much of the 'lazy' painting I see around. These are often mediocre artists who have been promoted by galleries who don't know any better, and encourage the idea that 'anyone can be an artist'. What rubbish, that's like saying that anyone can be a concert pianist - of course you can - if you practise for 10,000+ hours!

However, I've also noticed a gradual return to highly accomplished art works, both from artist friends that I respect and also many internationally recognised artists. I regularly go to London to experience the best art being made today from the likes of Glenn Brown, John Currin, Inka Essenhigh, Nigel Cooke, Ged Quinn, George Shaw and Peter Doig. These are all artists who create powerful and pioneering art, and they're not artists that need a gallery to explain or justify their work.

The Art Market is a strange entity because anyone with some money can establish their own gallery and claim to be an expert on contemporary art. This means that there are just a few very good galleries that do a brilliant job in promoting their artists, and then many bad galleries that treat their artists like an unruly production line.

The worst example of this is the awful Affordable Art Fair, that presents itself as a way to get contemporary art for a low price, but does so at the expense of the artists. The truth is that if you want to get good quality contemporary art that will continue to rise in value, then you have to find a way to support the artist, rather than buying from a low-price venue.

The fact is that you should never try to get a 'bargain' from an emerging artist, because it means you're depriving them of the means to make the work they're capable of. If you want to make a good investment in art, then you must invest in the artist, because the strength of their market will depend entirely on the quality and development of their work.

The ideal position to hold is as a Patron, which is something that all great artists have needed throughout history. A Patron is simple someone who is willing to believe in the artist and fund their work, and they also turn out to build the best collections of art because they fund the artists when they're creating their best and most pioneering works.

The Art Market is changing, and in Bridport we're doing our bit to bring the focus back to the artists, to remind people that this isn't about a few 'celebrity artists' but about supporting the hard-working artists who have the potential to be the next Cezanne, Turner or Picasso. These artists are in their studios right now, trying to work out how they'll pay the rent while they labour over a canvas that will one day be proclaimed as a masterpiece.

The Open Studios event is one of the best ways to discover and support these artists. You can visit them in their studios and discuss what they're working on, and unlike any other market, you can directly influence the progress of their career. One generous sale or commission can transform how much time an artist can dedicate to their work, and can be a spring board that brings their work to the attention of a good gallery and a growing collector base.

This is also the best time to invest in the work of many artists in the Bridport Art Scene. This is the beginning of the careers of many artists here, some are already gaining representation by London galleries, and a few will go on to exhibit at international galleries. Most of us offer payment by installment, which means people on a relatively low income can easily start collecting important contemporary art.

It's also been great to see "Wandering Through Wessex", an exhibition by Gallerist Charlie Caldecott. Charlie discovered the Bridport Art Scene while exploring Dorset Art Weeks last year, and he was immediately impressed by the calibre of art he found here. He's planning on bringing our scene to the attention of a far wider national and international audience.

I'd really recommend you visit the exhibition as soon as possible, as it's only on for this week (ends 12th Sept), and has an excellent mixture of artists including myself, Jon Adam, Claire Trenchard (you can see her wolves howling at the moon in my painting), David Cobley, John Boyd, Georgina Fermer, Judith Gait, David Kennard and Wendy Poole.

We're now preparing for an Open Studios event to coincide with the Bridport Literary Festival in November, so watch this space!

Redevelopment Result

First of all, my apologies for not writing this post for a couple of weeks, as I know some of you have been waiting to hear about the redevelopment threat to St Michael's Studios...

We've actually had the most incredible couple of weeks - First we managed to get the 2nd 'redevelopment' proposal rejected, and last weekend was our most popular Bridport Open Studios event ever.

On Thursday 20th August hundreds of local people turned out in force for the 'southwest quadrant' planning decision meeting at the United Church Hall on East Street, and 30 speakers (27 of whom were opposed to the development) pushed the meeting to 3 hours of high drama before the district councillors voted 5 to 4 to reject the 2nd proposal.

Councillor Ros Kayes summed it up when she said “What you are therefore faced with today is a moral decision – to support the profits of a private developer or to recognise the special qualities of an area of unique historical and economic significance to Bridport."

It was an amazing event that all those present will remember, and it was the main conversation about town for the following week. It was as if local people had woken up to the fact that what they most loved about the town was threatened and they had to do something about it. After the committee’s decision Bridport Town Council leader Dave Rickard said: “I don’t think I have ever been more proud of where I live than last Thursday. "

You can read the Bridport News coverage of the event here, as we wait to see what the West Dorset District Council will come up with next...

Naturally we were very happy that we were able to return to work at St Michael's Studios, but there was also a strong feeling of anger over the considerable time we've all had to spend in order to save what is now recognised as an important asset to the town. Many of us are extremely disappointed that the WDDC has continued to try to push unsuitable redevelopment plans onto our town, without a genuine consultation with local traders, and to waste our valuable time as we've had to defend our jobs and community.

You would think that they would be trying to support the many self-employed tenants of the St Michael's Trading Estate, since Bridport is still a low-income working town that needs more jobs and employment, not more housing estates. The WDDC should be pleased that we still have a thriving trading estate in the heart of the town, and we would love them to ask US how they can help us build on our success.

Before the meeting, Town and district Councillor David Tett had urged members to "support the planning officers’ recommendation to go ahead and tidy up the area before it fell further into decay." This is a totally inaccurate and misleading thing to say. The fact is that every available space is being used on the trading estate, and there is always demand for whatever spaces become available. We agree that certain areas are run down, but that is only because just the minimum amount of money has been invested by the landlords to keep the estate going. We haven't complained because this has also kept the rents low, which is exactly what has allowed the area to flourish.

I said at the meeting that we actually have a great relationship with our landlords, since they do a great job in providing low cost studios for the creative industries and allowing many small businesses the opportunity to start-up without high operating costs. I hope that we can now all go forward with an appreciation for what the area brings to Bridport, and learn to work together in the future for the greater good of the town - all of us - tenants, traders, landlords, town and district councils.

I'll tell you about our amazing Bridport Open Studios event on my next blog...