Medieval Influences

Apparently things medieval are becoming fashionable. This is quite annoying to me because I have been interested in medieval history, politics and art for a some time now. It strikes me that while the differences are huge between the present time and say 13th century England, some of the parallels are also interesting:
- replace the catholic church with the EU as the supranational power broker and
forum for international deal making, making perennial raids on national
sovereignty
- intellectual elites living a vastly different life from that of the majority
- confrontation with Islam

The art of the period is of course dominated by religious subjects and for a sculptor the largest sources of extant work are the stone carvings on religious buildings. English sculpture of this type presents a problem in that many fine pieces were destroyed in the Tudor period and the Civil War but quantities survive and I am trying to collect some images to use as a starting point for my own work.

The ones in this post I took on a walk around Castle Combe in Wiltshire - reckoned to be one of the prettiest villages in England, which takes some claiming, but might well be true!

Back To Work

Christmas is past, weight has been gained, the big freeze and too much of the day job has put my studio out of action for most of the last two months and I have been busy online doing other things so no posts...

This will change - the resolution is made, this is the year that I manage to post a new article at least once a week... there its in print!

So much has happened, both politically, economically and socially that this year should also be an artistically significant one - will my contribution be any good? Who knows!

The big feet people are changing - economic necessity and the need for a change of style means that these figures are going to free up, less emphasis on the caricature element and more on the overall feel of the piece. Also more groups and more political / social themes.

Today has been one of change in The Wold Gallery, Moreton-In-Marsh, where I show my work. Lots of positive comment and interest in the work, that might return as commissions later, but disappointing sales...so new material. Prunella the gardener and a couple of cricketers are going to try their luck. These pieces are already looser in the glazing, more like a watercolour finish to them. Hopefully this and a modest price reduction will help sales.

Success!

Success - the sale has translated and my shooter piece will be off to a new home in darkest Gloucestershire. Another piece might be following the same direction so all is rosy.

I have been up to my eyes with making new pieces so watch this space for more of the fun pieces and also more political satire.

The trouble with satirising events in the UK at the moment is that they are already so absurd that there is really very little point! We have a government who have systematically borrowed too much and taxed too much and spent too much... presided over an asset bubble and deliberatley mis-regulated the banks, introducing a law to ensure government will be sensible about spending! There is no objective measure of what sensible is and even one so small as me might argue that being responsible with our money is what government should do in any event. Passing a law does not make this happen when the government has been incapable of controlling its own stupidity.

Possibly worse than the sheer lunacy of such actions is the insulting assumption that we, the 'ordinary' people are too stupid to realise that they are lying to us and that the architect of this bankrupting of our country resides here - Gordon Brown. Coincidentally this shower of criminals and incompetents abolished the law of treason. It should be reinstated immediately and Brown (for ruining the country as both Chancellor and Prime Minister) and Blair (for lying through his teeth to the nation and taking us into two wars which we did not properly prepare for and which we had no business to be fighting - see Sunday Telegraph today) should be the first cases brought. A short trial and a trip to the Tower would be justice.

Another small step

It would appear, dear reader, that there is a Coutts cheque standing deposit on my 'shooter' big feet person - so very reasonably priced and excellent value!

Hopefully this translates to a full sale in the very near future and that will allow me to fund getting a new telephoto lens for the camera - better portraits to follow, one hopes.

I have been a wee bit slow with the blog for the last few weeks - long drawn out bout of man flu and busy actually making sculptures. My studio is not heated though so it is taking ages to get them dry for firing. Two cricketers and a headmaster at speech day are waiting the flames as soon as may be arranged. These will be glazed - and may be the last to be so.

Back... and more planning

Well - I have been away for a few days for reasons in general too dull to mention... apart from a fun trip up to London.

The gallery situation is good - I now have a bunch of pieces working for me in a gallery in Gloucestershire and with a wee bit of luck more to come.

The dilemma I face at the moment is colour - glaze or not glaze. Opinion seems to be divided on this front between those who like the coloured caricature pieces and those who prefer my more serious unglazed comment pieces. I am in the latter camp... it makes a neater tie with the pure portrait stuff.

Thoughts oh invisible reader....

More Interest

Well - another week, more mailshots and another hint of interest in my work. Good gallery good location.

I am wondering about some things though - sale or return, I know some, admittedly established,artists who wont touch it. Coming from a commercial background I am used to a term of credit like 30 or 60 days before payment but not an ongoing investment. Mind you the normal retail markup is higher so I imagine it pans out.

More worrying is insurance and ownership - if for example the gallery went bust - how do I find out and get my property back? If the piece has not been sold then it is difficult if not impossible to insure, so if it is damaged in the store I lose it. Not ideal.

Still, on the bright side, if I can get seen in good places it makes a start in the right direction!

David Cameron

Awesome. Simply the best political speech I have ever heard. It was what politics is all about. I didn't believe that anyone in politics actually thought about it the way I do - about hope, helping people to realise their dreams, about freedom, respect, self-reliance and mutual support.

There is no doubt that this was not political nuance - he believes this, this is his credo and he has told us what the thought process will be and where we can go. Nevertheless there was a trail a mile long of Labour foxes well and truly shot. It is the triumph of principal over mean minded calculation.

If he can help us remove the blight of the green-eyed suspicion and overweening interventionism of socialism from this country and bring about even a small part of this vision then Britain will be a great place to live and will have a great future.

See it - www.conservatives.com