White Pears #9

 

 

'White Pears #9'

acrylic on canvas/10"x14"/October 2015

 

This latest painting in the white pears series is somewhat of a departure in that it utilized a new medium, acrylic rather than the habitual oil - an experiment that proved so unsatisfactory in the actual process of painting that it will not be repeated: indeed, the subsequent painting, already in progress, has reverted to oils, sensual, malleable and as delightful to use as any struggle could be said to be, compared to the horrible, claggy experience of unresponsive acrylics.

 

In terms of the mechanics of the whole observing and painting process, the circumstances were as most recently previously, the conservatory as studio space, with its all-over light source, the whitewashed objects upon a white melamine shelf against a background of white paper, the garden outside, and possibly the dense and tall woods beyond, casting something of a submarine green tinge upon proceedings.

 

 

 To return to the acrylics and the inspiration to experiment in the use of, that came from encountering - at the 'Reality' painting exhibition currently showing at the Walker in Liverpool (well worth a visit for interested parties) - and being mightily seduced by the monochrome wonder of Katarzyna Coleman's Great Yarmouth streetscapes, as pictured in the catalogue below.

 

There's a profound beauty not just in the subject matter and compositions but also in the economy of the painting of these unpopulated urban environments (& they share a certain melancholy with George Shaw's paintings of the Coventry estate of his childhood and youth) that makes the medium so attractively tempting in context, but, alas, acrylic has proved not for me & there's no desire to continue with the experiment.