Author Archives: essiep

Albinoni (Von Karajan)

Posted on by
1
Evening, music to paint to

Turpentine: Restarted the portrait as decided at the 60 mile point yesterday. Unfortunately, I can’t show this one, so I’ll talk about music instead.
Albinoni: Adagio in G- cond: Herbert Von Karajan.

My copy of this is on LP, bought second-hand in about 1990. There was a glut of classical LPs as people "upgraded" to CD around that time. They were all in beautiful condition, clearly fastidiously looked after by previous owners. Anyway, Adagio in G is a well known established piece, but this version is magical. It has all the power, tension and swings in rhythm that carried me away this evening. I was so moved. It left me gently shivering at the end.
Luckily the next few pieces on the first side are good too and follow on well: (the Vivaldi :Concerti for Flute and Strings, and Bach’s Orchestral Suites). They both fit in on well so let you back down to earth by the end of side..

I’d better to, I have that slightly sick feeling in my throat from the strong smell of turps in this room.

88 miles.

Posted on by
Reply
19°C after the rain stopped and the sun came out.

Cycling: Niiice long ride at a fast pace. I only came home because my concentration was fading. The roadspeed was steady- a comfortable but quick pace even once the tiredness came on. My eyesight became slow, and that is bad & unsafe. My legs were happy to continue but I really could do without any injuries from crashing right now.
Five hours of cycling is quality thinking time. Some decisions are made, some are just clearer. Mind you, the last hour usually turns into a fudge, as your body starts to run out of calories.
The portrait I started yesterday is just too big, that may mean getting a spirit soaked rag and wiping it back. Drastic but not a problem at this early stage.

September sun

Posted on by
Reply
19°C, still air, 30% cloud

Beaudesert: returned there to enjoy the sun and draw in sweet smelling air. The ground was very wet, but the route did cross a lot of springs just below a ridge. Dragonflys buzzed the pond, but I couldn’t get a focus on him with my camera. That is the only disadvantage with the Sony R-1, compared with the Canon SLRs (for example), apart from that, pictures come out remarkably clear- with almost crystalline sharpness. The R-1 was the perfect choice (but you can’t get them new anymore).
I finished the day with a delicious German beer and jalfrezi/curry made by me.
Can you sense contentment coming from my direction?


Painting (Turpentine): got off to a good start today.I’m trying to be more methodical with this one, no leaping in and hoping to clean up afterwards. Portraits are more critical, this one is bigger than my usual A3-4. To reduce the risk, do the groundwork first and use first class source material- (good quality photographs).
Tired: well not exactly, but sleep has been poor this week. Today feels fine to me, there is lots of energy in my legs so tomorrow I intend to get physically exhausted (guess how Wink).

All new to me

Posted on by
Reply
Poetry: is all new to me. Some of you will think this is no big deal, but I’m reading Noël Coward’s "Collected Verse" and now Thomas Hardy’s "Selected Poems".
It’s new to me, it feeds a need in my life right now. In those moments of introspection, which can be quite short, a passage of prose is just the right  dose.
Thomas Hardy initially seems more difficult of the two, but I am sure I will get used to the language. A colleague lent me this copy today, she must have had it since college days as it has been annotated throughout. I love annotated books, second hand books are great for this. Thanks Sarah– I will look after it.

Coward made his living as a song-writer but he says he made an effort to move away from the rigid rhythms and write more freely in his prose. I am really quite excited by all of this; the fact that just a page can hold a thought, one that deserves to stand on its own- not part of a plot or scene. It’s really something, something powerful. As I have said elsewhere, there is a universe in the little things, those often overlooked and deserve close attention. These small pages with a few hundred words do the looking in close-up.
It’s been over ten years since I read any poetry- and that was Spike Milligan. This life is changing (hold on, I don’t have any others).

Is it finished?

Posted on by
Reply
A sudden feeling hit me, while cleaning the edges of a glaze. How uncanny, the suddenness I mean, and relief – it’s worked well enough.
It’s finished!
Oh, what am I talking about; the Angelica painting. I’ll take a photo tomorrow and upload soon after.
Next some portraiture, but I don’t like posting them on here.

I’m painting daily of late, playing with watercolours and finding it
rather fun. It’s a surprisingly precise medium despite all of the
blobby washed puddles that many artists work with. I’m using it for
portraits, something I am honing about now.
I’m getting there too.
The
route through works like this: do portrait sketches a few times to
discover the "issues"- the things that can go awry. Play with the
details in close-ups, as well as drawing from memory, this serves as a
warning. By now, you get to know where erronious elements can creep in.
Sketch it again in colour several times working away from the
dependence on tone until you understand the colour.
Only then, draw it up onto the canvas.

Collected Verse

Posted on by
Reply
Dry, warm with a sweet smelling southerly wind..

Noël Coward:

I am no good at love
My heart should be wise and free
I kill the unfortunate golden goose
whoever it might be
with over articulate tenderness
And too much intensity

I am no good at love
I batter it out of shape
Suspicion tears at my sleepless mind
And, gibbering like an ape,
I lie alone in the endless dark
Knowing there is no escape

I am no good at love
When my easy heart I yeald
Wild words come tumbling from my mouth
Which should have stayed concealed
And my jealousy turns a bed of bliss
into a battlefield

I am no good at love
I betray it with little sins
For I feel the misery of the end
In the moment that it begins
And the bitterness of the last goodbye
Is the bitterness that wins

….what gorgeous bitter melancholy.

Goodnight.

The Wackness

Posted on by
1
17°C, rain has finished for today

Electric Cinema, Birmingham: what a superb cinema- cosy, small, with a bar next to the ticket office, we took our drinks in to see the film- "The Wackness" by Jonathan Levine (2008). the film was superb too. Ben Kingsley put on a captivating performance as s shrink who develops a relationship beyond his profession with a male client. The result was full of charm and wit- he clearly thoroughly enjoyed acting that role, the character was often funny, vulnerable and absurd. The cinematography was good, control of lighting, the very wide-screen format (and the compositions that allows)- assisted by the fact that were were watching 35mm stock. No doubt I missed worthwhile asides, images or other subtleties, so this is high on my list of films- To See Again.

No blind spots

Posted on by
Reply
18°C, windy morning, very wet afternoon. 35 miles

Eye test: now the blind spots have gone, the optician thought that was strange. I’m not so confident in the test, I suspected a false positive 3 years ago, despite the optician’s insistence. He couldn’t see any vitreous floaters either today, I can though. The prescription remains the same, so no new specs. A good result.

The rain, the rain…