Autumnal Object

Having brought the summer project to a point not necessarily of conclusion but rather a pause for consideration of how and where it might develop, thoughts (re)turned to one of those subjects that just keeps on recurring.

Pears as objects have been a staple of my drawing and painting practice for over twenty years, since, in fact, I was a second-year Fine Art undergraduate at university. More recently, at various points during the last few years, I’ve been representing them in altered form, ultimately whitewashed and placed within white spaces, exploring their form in terms of tone rather than colour. Further back, early in 2006, coincidentally shortly after I’d launched this blog, I discovered in a local greengrocers what were termed Chinese ‘Ya’ pears which came double-wrapped in firstly white tissue paper and then, as an outer protective coat, in ‘jackets’ of foam mesh cylindrical sleeves which objects imbue the pears with a certain ‘otherness’ one might say.

Blogged, excitedly, at the time here, these jacketed pears have remained somewhere in mind as a vague possibility to be pursued creatively. Five years or so ago, during a weekend in London, a visit to a supermarket in Chinatown resulted in the discovery and purchase of a selection of such objects, a pair of which were explored in but a single watercolour sketch before, for whatever reason, I concentrated my attentions upon the undressed fruit whilst it remained fresh and firm in a subsequent series of sketches.

Remaining dormant again since, I recently felt the aesthetic pull of the foam jackets and searched the studio for what I imagined were the stash I’d kept for such an occasion, alas and frustratingly to discover that they were nowhere to be found when required to respond to the spark of inspiration. A trip to Liverpool last week – primarily to collect a couple of unsold paintings that had been exhibited during the course of the Liverpool Art Fair 2018 (which it was remiss of me to fail to blog, following on from a similar failure to mention other of my work’s almost-concurrent appearance in this year’s North Wales Open at Theatr Clwyd) – afforded the opportunity to locate and purchase a small selection of  the jacketed pears and, after a couple of painting sessions, on Sunday and to resolve on Monday, the first visual evidence of a single example of this find is (re)presented below – the very first oil painting of an object of long-harboured desire. The familiar environment of white horizontal and vertical planes is evident, with the object suggested as existing within as subtly as possible.

'Pear in a Jacket'

oil on canvas/35 x 25cm/16-17 September 2018

[detail]