[untitled]

And so a return to the ubiquitous subject-object matter of aluminium can 'roadkill', as found & photographically documented, but, in a new twist, here, in the new(ish) locale, upon & amongst an area of tarmac road surface that adds a touch of colour to what had previously - in the 'double black lines' days & context of yore - been almost exclusively grey monochromatic surroundings & backgrounds to the 'roadkill' finds.


Such a find & photograph affords the opportunity & provides the inspiration to indulge in a little much-needed image & blogging husbandry, & specifically the selection & (re)presentation of some more recently taken photographs of small areas to be found along this particular road, which, by way of explanation of such an endeavour, constitutes the main bus route operating between Chester & Wrexham, hence its surface being marked at numerous intervals to indicate stopping zones, tarmacked over, as might be extrapolated from the available pictorial evidence, a certain red & also outlined & lettered with yellow paint.

From such source material, the keen aesthetician might extract a variety of incident, such as this fine example of craquelure, of an intriguingly circular, looped nature, upon the yellow painted line, which itself shows evidence in places of having been applied in two layers:


A second example includes the familiar-to-these-parts form of the grating of a cast-iron drainage grid cover, in addition to abstracted fragments - lines, angles, curves & loops of forms - of alphabetical lettering as another aspect of compositional interest. Again, erosion of areas of the uppermost surface(s) exposes evidence of the 'archaeology' of the strata of the entire surface's construction, layer upon layer...


The fragments of lettering & evidence of surface erosion - sometimes revealing intriguing glimpses, traces, of previous text painted underneath, cancelled out by subsequent layers - are features that might be observed also in the following further examples/compositions, also all rich in a variety of surface texture in the manner of 'painterly' painting, with which a visual analogy is intended, of course...





Note how, in this final example, the yellow line has been painted particularly thickly, for added textural effect.


In the context of such a photographic record & its subject matter, it's been interesting to read over the summer the reviews of Ingrid Calame's well-received exhibition at the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh - the artist's drawing & oft highly-coloured painting practice being sourced from tracings of the incidental details of pavements, roads & other horizontal surfaces, & developed into complex layered compositions as might be appreciated from this online gallery of images.

15th September Update

On a coincidental note, here's a still life of a piece of fresh tarmac as painted by Dan Young & featured on his 'Daily' blog.

Good Things in Small Packages

Brought to my attention by my lovely friend Rebecca & originating via this press release on the University of Gloucestershire website, comes news of another must-see-&-follow artist’s blog, namely & documenting Dan Young’s intended year-long project of a painting-a-day, beginning last November & continuing apace. Another ‘Old Pittvillean’ (as is the aforementioned Rebecca, artist-blogger Kirsty Hall & yours truly), Dan’s series of small format oil paintings, luscious & seductive, comprises simple still lifes of, naturally, all manner of small objects (or fragments of), that have some relevance to the given day - those that might be overlooked or unconsidered, at least as subject matter for painting - elevated to the realm of art, from wooden toy figures, art materials (from pencils, pastels to pans & blobs of paint & even a small mound of dry ultramarine pigment that seems very Anish Kapoor), a Brussels sprout (on Xmas day, of course), half-eaten biscuits, crocheted mushrooms to clumps of earth &, most topically today, a snowball.
The contextualizing blog entries accompanying each of the paintings have an enjoyable deadpan humour to them too, as befits many of the subjects depicted, & the work is made available for ebay auction, with the result that a pleasing amount appears to have sold. As this mere dry description could never do the endeavour justice, please visit the blog now for a real treat!

Whilst being a noble endeavour in its own right, a purpose of Dan’s enterprise is to provide inspiration to make time during the demands of the day to do something from which one can gain enjoyment & satisfaction, one of the fundamental disciplines that also underpins my own efforts, in drawing & blogging, believing such to be of the utmost importance.

More examples of Dan Young’s paintings & digital art are to be found on his artist's website – enjoy, for example, the series of tent paintings, pitched in snowy locations, again suffused with that sense of incongruous humour.

All good stuff & always pleasing to make a Cheltenham reacquaintance in some way - thanks Becca, you're a star.