Will Paint

RIP Ned Ryan

2011-04-23T13:12:00.001-07:00

I was looking out some photos of my paintings and came across the photo of a sketch I did of Ned Ryan in Barbados. It was a hot day and after lunch I painted him for an hour or so while we sat in the shade. I would liked to have spent longer on it but in some ways there is a freshness you get working alla prima which is better than improving the likeness. He was happy with it anyway.

It was great to have a chance to talk to him for a bit, he was such a nice man. I never heard him say a bad thing about anybody, the strongest he ever went was; not one of my favourites. I would like to be more like him in that respect.

His memorial was on the 28th April and I was sad that I couldn't go that day. I sent one up for him instead.

2010-11-25T01:46:00.000-08:00

It seems that blogs are like news year resolutions when it comes to keeping them updated. I thought I ought to mention this exhibition that I have some work in. Perhaps it will encourage me to post more regularly in future.

I haven't done many still lifes in the last couple of years so Have enjoyed doing one or two for this. Each Artist was represented in the invitations thay were sent out by a postcard of their work. Mine was this cigar and ashtray painting done in egg tempera on gesso.

This bring me to another point. I have always believed that the plural of Still Life was Still Lifes. Lives being the plural of a persons life and Still Life being another word with it's own rules. Any thoughts?

The show is in a gallery I last showed at 20 years ago called the Summerleaze Gallery at East Knoyle. It is owned by Tim and Trish Scott Bolton who also run Art classes there as well as in India. They have been joined by John Stoller, an American Art dealer from Minnesota now living in the area.

I went along to the Saturday night opening to see how it looked and enjoyed myself catching up with the Scott Boltons, their guests as well as some of the fellow Artists. There can be a nasty atmosphere when Artists meet at a group show. Jealousies over who brought who, who then went on to buy work from another etc.

I'm glad to say I didn't witness any ugly scenes on this occasion though.

The show runs until the 6th December

2010-03-30T13:29:00.000-07:00

This new eye sore of a corkscrew and cork is off to London tomorrow to try its luck at The Ramsay Gallery in Pimlico Green. It's in oil on gesso and I did on days in between my present main project. I'm working on an interior at the moment but I always like to have something else on the go. Some people only like to work on one piece at a time, but I find that the anticlimax after finishing a painting somehow leaves me unable to start something new straight away. I need to have something I can pick up where I left off. I imagine that computer gamers probably feel the same thing. A build up of adrenaline and then it's suddenly all over.

Tara Press

2010-03-12T08:58:00.000-08:00

I am really pleased to tell you that I have now taken the name Tara Press for the shop. I have thought about this a bit. The idea came to me when reading Victoria Glendinnings's biography of Leonard Woolf. The Hogarth Press was so glamorous. It will be a long while before the Tara Press is publishing the likes of T. S. Eliot and Laurens van der Post let alone The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud but I hope to get other artists on-board before too long and who knows?
The Tara press is named after our whippet, Tara
She is a character as you can see

So far it is run by a staff of two; Tara and Will but we will be actively recruiting when work picks up a bit.

The site is up

2010-02-27T12:56:00.000-08:00

The site is up and running and I've set up a shop with two prints. In future blogs I intend to give details about some of the techniques I use. For instance I will be sharing the recipe for the binder I use in egg tempera. If there is anything you would like to hear about then email me with any questions. There is a contact button at the bottom of each page on the website.
I'll also be updating the site continuously and adding more pages.

The Horse before the Cart

2010-02-24T03:01:00.000-08:00

So I've got the first page of my blog ready and I haven't even got the all new improved website up and running. What have I got to say for myself today? Well, at this stage all my Geese are Swans, I hope it's not an ugly duckling before I'm through. I had etter do some work, then I'll have something to blog about!