Brighter archie

I have begun to add the highlights and shadow inlcuding that of his legs. Rain clouds are now over the coastline of France and rain squals beneath and up near his right shoulder. He now looks back lit and appears bolder within the scene, better contrasts. Many thanks to Orlando for his vision.

Archie tryptich

These images are in post-production, not yet (if ever) fine enough for the archibald.

The middle one (1500X1000 mm) is the subjects' early life story on the Island of Jersey. On his left is the west coast of France. The little beach and village that appears there is in fact St Helliers, which lies on the green island behind his pelvis - located between his legs. He holds a beer glass toward the beach, even though he doesn't drink beer but referring him to Australia, where he emigrated in his 30's. His right foot is settled in the area related to Saint Marlo, France and his left foot is close to where Mont St Michel would be on a map of France.



On his right side is the circular formation representing Gorey Castle (located near his left trouser pocket on Jersey) and the harbour around it (with the implication of the very high tides there - two little boats at the bottom), and also it represents the cyclotron (the particle accelorator) he designed (one built in the US and the other in switzerland). Coming up from there is the main sailing boat and it carries many stories he tells of his youth in Jersey and learning about the power of those fast, huge tides and of the joys of fishing. I have lit the top of his head as if from the light behind the clouds or the sea to his right and given the impression of a head like a planet. The distortions of his body have given him a midesection of a youth, a head of a man both viewed directly but his legs appear to have been observed looking up at him. He now walks with a stick. There is more to do in bringing that source of light down his face and hands, behind his body and into shadows of his figure on the ground.


The panel on his right (1200X900 mm) is a whimsical portrait of him with his eyes cast up to the boat, whilst in his right hand is a fork holding a sliver of fried tomato that he was having for breakfast when I took the photo which inspired the portrait. I have used the same colors for his face that are in the middle panel and the underlying wash or underpainting is common to these two panels, though mostly obscured by the dense coverage of paint in the middle panel. It is as if he is still emerging out of his background, with that ever present humor and wit that comes from being a theoretical physicist whose work was a 'life of contemplation' he said. He claims to have been an 'unsuccesful bady' but I am not so sure, he remains a charming man.


The third panel on his left is the impression I have of him after I can no longer see him, the lingering sense of him as he recedes, like the spirit of this gentle creature who fathered my beloved wife. In the rich greens blues and oranges of the right side of this panel you can see lighter back colouring which suggest an elongated image of him as if the image of him in memory were fading out in both direction top and bottom. Reading from the viewers left to right it is as if he is fading out, with the orange and purple zip like a first and last breath - and then there is quiet space of a purple wash. The light on the bottom right hand corner is sunlight from where it is hung - not a feature of the paint. I may completely rework this one to produce a richer texture in the paint.

The middle painitng is somewhat flat, lacking vibrant contrasts from a consistent source of light. However, they are getting near to how I want them - rough hewn and a narrative within and between the three. One of my frustrations, evident in the unfinished quality of these three, is that I remain a dabbler after months of casual work on the images, yet each one has enough inherent interest to call for more.

Archibald next step

I like this one a lot. My dilemma is whether to take a photo of this version, make a slide and project it onto the canvas, draw the outline and then begin painting. Or as I usually do just go straight to the canvas and build another image.

Happy 2007

I'm reading 'The Tears Of Things' by Peter Schwenger. Here is a selection from Chapter 2.

'It is objects that look at us. Things look at me yet I see them. The picture is certainly in my eye. But I am not in the picture. Where am I then? If I am anywhere it is in the form of the screen. Not a cinema screen but one more like a Victorian fire screen positioned in such a way as to block out light and heat considered excessive for the complexion. The function of the screen is to erase the (object's) gaze from the world. How can we distinguish that which is screen from that which is not, if all we know is what we see, and we see only what we have been taught to know.

The screen, to an eye that is simulatneously overtaught and ignorant, seems invisible: we are not aware of its existence because its existence is all that we have ever been aware of. In a painting, however, the screen is palpably present in the form of the canvas. In this way a human being "isolates the function of the screen and plays with it" (quoting from Lacan's Seminar XI).

Objects may be depicted on the canvas, but they are preseen, as it were; this is one way in which their gaze is tamed.'