DIGITAL COLLAGE

I was quite pleased with this digital collage-made with the GIMP

DIGITAL DUNSTANBURGH

Every now and again I use the GIMP app to experiment with my photographs. Here is one view of Dunstanburgh which I have processed to give a brooding aspect to the light.

OIL SKETCHES OF NORTHUMBERLAND

Here are a couple of recent oil sketches of Northumbrian scenes. They are quite small and intended as ideas for paintings on a larger scale.I have added surrounds which will give an idea of the kind of dark frame which might be appropriate for the subject. Oil seed rape is now part of the Northumberland landscape and provides a strong colour note.

Towards Cheviot from somewhere in the Ratcheugh area.

Late Spring.

CAFE DRAWINGS

In an earlier post-which you can see here- I talked about drawing people from observation and I discussed mainly the possibility that you can draw people-quickly-on buses and at cashpoints. There are plenty of other possible locations. I am sure that you will find places that I have not thought of. But if you go to cafes then you have the chance of drawing people from life. Another group of these drawings-showing parents and children can be seen here. 

My local branch of Costa has a large plate glass window looking onto a busy street and is next door to a supermarket. So it is a good place to watch the world go by. There is also a pedestrian crossing immediately adjacent so people halt there before crossing the road-and you have the challenge of trying to draw them-quickly!

As you see none of these drawings comes from a sketchbook.There is nothing wrong with sketchbooks . They keep your work together in one place but they are perhaps more noticeable-they take up more space than a piece of paper removed from a small folder.

My purpose in doing these drawings is firstly to practice obsevation and drawing skills and the ability to work quickly.I do intend to put more figures into my landscape painting.  There they can form a focal point. It is something that landscape painters do not do so much nowadays.The reason  may be  that they think that lack of figures allows the  viewer to identify more readily with the scene-they have it all to themselves. But perhaps that is too sophisticated a view Most likely artists just have not practised their life drawing and so are incompetent to do any such thing. Monet,Sisley and Pissarro knew better.

Checking the shelves at Costa

Two for the price of one. 

At Quilliam Bros'

At Quilliam Bros again.

Young person absorbed with her smartphone-at Quilliam's again.

ONE OF THE MISSING OF THE SOMME-JOHN DAVID NISBET- DIED 1 JULY 1916

Memorial plaque; St Peter & St Paul , Longhoughton

When I was a child the names on the War Memorial in Longhoughton Church did not mean much to me.But later on I was told that one of the names was that of my great uncle John David Nisbet.It is next to last on the righthand side of the plaque. As I got to know the village better I recognised local names still well known in my youth-Foreman,Stanton, Wood, Douglas and Dodds. Some of these came from families which not only served in the military but provided  crews for  the lifeboat at Boulmer.

John  came to England a child when the family moved there from Midlothian.His father's work as a gamekeeper had brought him to Northumberland.

John David Nisbet died on 1 July 1916 on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. He had just passed his 17th birthday and was in fact 17 years and three months old. His actual birthday was 2nd March 1899 and he passed his 17th birthday in France.This suggests to me that there is something in the family stories that John was tall for his age and was teased and harassed into  running off to join up. He was one of the tens of of thousands who responded to the call  for volunteers. The response was so overwhelming that recruiting  centres struggled to cope.It is no wonder that this sixteen year old-and no doubt quite a few others- slipped through. Johnnie Nisbet's story is hardly unique. 

John David Nisbet. Private 20/1708 Tyneside Scottish (Northumberland Fusiliers)

Soldiers were not sent off to the front immediately after enlisting, so a period of some months training must have occurred before his going out  to France,and this confirms that he did sign up when underage.If it is correct that the minimum age for  Pals battalions such as the Tyneside Scottish was 19 then something seems seriously wrong here.

I am left wondering what to think of John David's rush to join up and then to die so young. Mostly  I am bemused by this. Quo fata vocant, indeed.

John Nisbet's body was never found and his name is recalled on the Thiepval Memorial.
He probably knew another Longhoughton man-John Kim Butters (20/313)  had  been in the same battalion though he was a bit older. He died  in June of 1916. Both were in the 20th Battalion of the Tyneside Scottish (Northumberland Fusiliers) This was part of  102 Brigade, 34th Division at la Boiselle near Albert.

He would have heard the enormous explosion of the Lochnagar and other associated mines, felt the earth shaking and the  dreadful silence which must have followed and was broken by the whistle for the advance.Did he hear, is there any way he could have actually heard through what must have been an unbelievable cacophony, the sounds of the bagpipes playing as they did? And then did he really advance with his comrades at walking pace in the expectation that the German wire had been cut?

(See also my post about the substantial and very interesting stained glass windows at nearby Lesbury which are the memorial to another local man who died at the Somme and portray the troops going out-7.30 am,1 July 1916. Access it here)

A MEMORIAL OF JULY 1 1916- THE FIRST DAY OF THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME.

The small church of Saint Mary at Lesbury in Northumberland has an intriguing memorial of the Great War. It is a group of  three windows in the south wall of the nave. They are full of symbolism .There is reference  to two members of the Scott family who had strong local connections. The windows  particularly commemorate the death of George Henry Hall Scott on the first day of the battle of the Somme, July 1 1916. And what is more the design goes out of its way to memorialise that day  and the Franco-British collaboration on this front. The window is the product of the Archibald K Nicholson Studios.This was obviously a firm which could produce high quality glass if not particularly inspired glass.. It continued into the 1960s and Nicholson lived from 1871-1937.

The window was commissioned by Captain Scott's mother- Lady Henrietta Scott. Her husband, Sir Henry Hall Scott who was Captain Scott's father had died in 1911 and the window is partly to commemorate him.The family had a local connection with Hipsburn and  among other things Sir Henry founded the  Imperial Yeomanry for the South African War.

Captain Scott was born in Northumberland and by profession was an engineer. He was in the 7th Battalion of the Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment. His age at death was 34. He is  buried in the Dantzig Alley Cemetery, Mametz-not far away from where he died.

Much is made of the Anglo French collaboration in the Great War and military circumstances have obviously suggested this theme. I cannot sufficiently stress its importance for the scheme of the design.

The three windows have conventional depictions of-from east to west-St George,The Angel with the Crown of Victory,and St Joan of France. It is the lower panels of the windows which have the most  detailed interest.

When you look at the lower panel of the St George  window which illustrates the alliance you see that there are British troops on the left going out to attack Montauban and French troops are shown on the right setting out to capture Hardecourt. These places were respectively at the southern end of the British  Fourth Army  sector and the northern end of the French Sixth Army sector. So the  British and French armies are advancing to take  places only a mile or two apart.Both actions were in fact successful. On the left the British soldiers have just left their trench. On the right the French troops are setting out.Lest anyone could possibly forget the time of the offensive it is listed as "7.30 am.THE FIRST OF JULY 1916 on a scroll to the left of the scene, The objectives Montauban and Hardecourt are named clearly in the glass.The significance of Montauban is that it was a ridge in a commanding position:so too the hill at Hardecourt,

British and French Soldiers starting their advance on the first day of the battle of the Somme.

French Soldiers

The lamb and flag of St George appear in the lower panel of the central window with the inscription GLORIA: IN: EXCELSIS: DEO on the left of the panel and ET:IN:TERRA:PAX on the right.The lamb of course symbolises Christ. Nearby is a chalice, referring to communion and sacrifice-Christ's sacrifice and by implication that of Captain Scott.Below the altar are the figures of Martyrs with particular associations with Britain.

The Central, Angel Window.

Lamb and Flag, also the badge of Capt Scott's Regiment.

St Joan Window

The third window shows St Joan. In a cartouche above the panel are the words BEATA:JEANNE:D'ARC. The panel below shows her on horseback. Once again there is reference to martial glory.Her flag is mentioned with its slogan "De par le Roy du Ciel" (By God's Will). To the right is  is shown the fleur-de-lys and the French war cry "Montjoye Saint-Denis". The cross of Saint George is on the left side.

Lower panel, St Joan Window.

There is additionally a plaque commemorating Captain Scott-placed there by his regiment.

At one time the official explanation of the iconography hung in the church but I did not notice it on my last visit.I  photographed it in 2008.Other information is available on the internet.

A note about my great uncle who enlisted under -age  and also died on the first day of the Somme can be found in the post about the war memorial plaque at nearby Longhoughton church. You can find it here.

BERWICK'S BURRELLS

About a year ago I visited  Berwick  to see the artworks which Sir William Burrell gifted to the town. The other Burrell Collection. I had seen the paintings as a child when they were  displayed  in the old library.
 I knew there would be Crawhalls. That was sufficient reason to go. And there were two watercolours by Arthur Melville. Now I yield to none in my admiration for Melville and Crawhall.But both artists were represented by second grade work. To see those  four pictures by Crawhall was to think that  Burrell was giving Berwick less good examples. The Crawhall masterpieces, of which Burrell had many, went to Glasgow.The Daubigny is nothing special and the Gericault drawing-if it is by Gericault is not up to much.

In terms of quality,the best works-showing a good artist working well-were by Boudin, particularly the scene of the River Toques.

Boudin, River Toques

The damatic and stagey Rembrandtesque landscape by Georges Michel is  hard to forget-but then he did churn them out.

The Degas sketch of Russian dancers was an indifferent example from a group of late works. Still it is always good to see a Degas.

It is a slightly odd collection, an Opie portrait and a portrait which was once given to Raeburn.And yet another LeNain type group. There are several items by well known C19 Dutch artists-very much collected in late C19 Scotland. They are not very exciting examples of their work.

I will not say anything about the examples of decorative art such as the Islamic tiles, the metalwork and woodcarving. Why Burrell gave these secondary items to Berwick could have many explanations. There wasn't an actual art gallery in Berwick and that may have influenced him as much as anything else.

EXCELLENT IONAS

A  fine auction of modern Scottish painting is coming up on June 9 2016 at Lyon and Turnbull in Edinburgh. There are several works from the Wood collection. That is the eminent surgeon Walter Quarry Wood who was President of the RCS in Edinburgh.Some of the works from the sale are shown below. This is a treat for those who love Iona paintings by Cadell and Peploe. The standard here and with the great majority of works in this auction is rather high.You can see that here below.

Sandbank and the Sound of Mull: FCB Cadell (Wood Coll)

Roina in the Sound of Mull:FCB Cadell.(Wood Coll)

Ben More from Clachanach: FCB Cadell

Iona Abbey: S J Peploe (Wood Coll)

LISMORE AND BENDERLOCH BY ADAM BRUCE THOMSON

Two paintings-the first a watercolour and the second an oil, by the eminent Scottish artist Adam Bruce Thomson, have just been sold by Lyon&Turnbull in Edinburgh. They represent places I know and like and for me they raise questions about artistic   licence. To me they are pleasant  works but they raise the kind of thoughts that chime with Constable's views about painting and what he calls manner. I think that manner is dominant here.I think it is the easiest and most seductive state for artists to pursue. You might call it poetic licence-and I would agree that there is no doubting the charm of Thomson's work.

Castle Coeffin, Lismore: Adam Bruce Thomson

Castle Coeffin,2015.

Caastle Coeffin,by Adam Bruce Thomson 

Castle Coeffin on Lismore is presented by Thomson in his watercolour as an apparently mighty stronghold perched on a towering cliff in what looks like an extremely strong defensive position. A cottage appears below and gives a considerable effect to the scale of gigantism There is a croft nearby but the scale here is extraordinary.If you visit Castle Coeffin the main ruin appears as if sitting on a humpy piece of grassland; you must descend a steep and rough path to get there. There is a croft near the castle but not quite in this position.

From the Mull ferry, for example, you can just see it as a stump, like a broken tooth in the distance. Close at hand it is still not vastly impressive and I doubt if it can have changed much in the decades since Thomson's visit.In the painting it appears as a much more upright and substantial run than it is now. The hills across Loch Linnhe seem to be put in for some kind of rhythm.The colour in the painting is perhaps its best point, it is very harmonious.

The pen drawing once again exaggerates proportions. The cliffs in the distance are rather perfunctory.It is interesting to see the land around the castle has hay stooks.

Thomson's view of the Dun at Benderloch is an equally striking image with richer colour.There are cliffs as you come up from Connel to the village so I am presuming a viewpoint to the west of them It is good in showing the dramatic light and shade effects which you get on a day of rain and sun. There is a rainbow to be seen over the crags and the sky in the east has a lowering appearance which suggests that more rain is coming.The glimpse of sea in the distance and light picks out some rocks above the water. You might be looking towards Loch Etive.

CADELL'S VIEW OF EILEAN ANNHRAID, IONA

Another post as a follow up to Philip MacLeod Coupe's identification of painting sites for Cadell and Peploe on Iona, (see passim). This comparison is not in Coupe.

The watercolour was once with the Bourne Fine Arts. The view shows the small island of Eilean Annraidh the foreground and in the distance the cliffs of Gribun on the right and the small islands in Loch na Keal.The difference between the landscape in the photo and the landscape in the painting (apart from the weather)is that the machair has extended-rather than as sometimes happens diminished since Cadell's time.Cadell's viewpoint seems to have been somewhere approximately on Ard Annraidh.

RAYMOND MASON; AN EARLY SELF-PORTRAIT

Raymond Mason: The Life Model; a self-portrait.

I have always liked Raymond Mason's drawings  whether of human groups or Paris architecture. But this drawing I did not know. I do not remember it in any of the monographs on  Mason.It was sold by  those  excellent print dealers Abbott and Holder based near the British Museum.If you would like to read some further thoughts about Mason -with specific reference to his autobiographical writings please refer to my blogpost here.
Many artists have drawn naked self-portraits, one thinks of Edward Munch and no doubt others could be added.It is perhaps a northern European phenomenon-associated with narcissism and introspection.The legs are out of proportion to the torso-but that is probably just the consequence of working from a mirror

THE BASSANO BRIDGE BY CHARLES HODGE MACKIE

The Bassano Bridge:woodblock print by Charles Hodge Mackie

A copy of this large woodblock print by Charles Hodge Mackie is to be sold by Lyon and Turnbull in Edinburgh on 18/05/2016. Mackie died in 1920 and one can see this print as an example from the movement to use the Japanese woodblock tradition in a European context. This print measures approx 20" square. I have not attempted to work out how many blocks were used but it may be fewer than one suspects-given that careful inking of different areas can sometimes allow the use of relatively few blocks.It is something of a creative experiment. I suspect that he isn't really interested in the concept of an edition and that each print is an individual creation.Because of the labour involved in this kind of work the number of examples produced will be small.

Mackie seems to be an interesting artist, Personally I can only recall seeing one of his works.It was another copy of the Bassano Bridge. But the fact that he  met modern French artists in the 1880s and that he was a friend of Hornel the Kircudbright artist should make us alert to the possibility that we are dealing with an artist to be investigated. In fact a book on Mackie has been announced and will be published later this year, and in four years (2020) there will be an exhibition of his work in Edinburgh.

The Bluebell Wood: woodblock print by Charles Hodge Mackie

The Bluebell Wood: woodblock print by Charles Hodge Mackie

Venetian Terrace; woodblock print by Charles Hodge Mackie.

Forthcoming book-late 2016,by Pat Clark

DELACROIX AND THE RISE OF MODERN ART-A VERY MIXED BAG

The recent exhibition of the Goya Portraits at the National Gallery resulted in an excellent catalogue which is a serious contribution to the Goya literature. The exhibition Delacroix and Modern Art takes on a much more general theme and perhaps could never hope to be more than an introduction to the subject.The topic is  huge and unwieldy. This show has many enjoyable paintings but is to a considerable extent an example of forced association, based on the collections of the two venues for this exhibition. An exhibition on the (relative) cheap you might say. It is based largely on the National Gallery in London and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The unifying factor is Patrick Noon who is Chair of Paintings at Minneapolis and an expert particularly on Bonington, and obviously by extension the friendship between Bonington and Delacroix which was cut short by the early death of the English artist.

In London about one in six of the exhibits comes from the National Gallery itself. There are many lovely paintings in this show but circumstances and expense most obviously  dictated the selection. One might  almost wish to congratulate the organisers on doing so well.

Delacroix's Baron Schwitter (4) was included because the Gallery owns it and because it fills out the list and because it allows the somewhat farcical comparison with Sargent's Lord Ribblesdale-which shows a similarly elongated figure.It is true that the painting was acquired in dramatic circumstances from the posthumous 1918 Degas sale ("But Monsieur it is for the Louvre!") and had been treasured by that great and mysterious artist. But that association though fascinating scarcely bears any relation to Degas' own work and is surely an episode in the history of collecting. The inclusion of Ovid among the Scythians is perhaps more appropriate. Baudelaire praised it and it must have some relevance for Symbolism.Redon would surely have approved. Again a work from the National Gallery Collection.  

There are copies of Delacroix by interested artists, a  reduced version of one work  (Sardanapalus) and a copy by Renoir of the Jewish Wedding. These help put his life in context. Degas' Young Spartans is included because it shows the artist  almost at the end of his somewhat half-hearted attempt to treat classical subjects and because  Delacroix had thought of a similar subject for one of his mural decorations. A Gauguin demonstrates a similar interest in Delacroix. Does this justify shuttling major works to-and-fro across the Atlantic? Sometimes I wonder.

There is also a mediocre Degas from the NG in Washington present because Delacroix had used a similar theme.

There are a few luminous Cézannes.They include the Lutte d' Amour, The Apotheosis of Delacroix and The Eternal Feminine. Did not Giacometti say that a Cézanne was like a fresco? Giacometti was right!

The exhibition is good when it deals with Delacroix's orientalism.Minneapolis is the owner of the magnificent Convulsionists (21) which is one of the glories of the show.It has other works relating to the North African trip whilst the NG has none.This painting shows Delacroix at his finest and lives as an exemplar which would have fascinated any Impressionist/Post Impressionist. We know that Seurat studied it thoroughly early in his career-before the great masterpieces of the early '80s.His notes survive as a link to Delacroix and, in effect, back before him to one of Delacroix's artistic gods- Veronese. Here the achievement of a coherent, unified painting of a brightly lit religious procession in Tangiers shows the colourist in Delacroix, and demonstrates  what mattered to the impressionists. Delacroix manages a painting which is free from murky shadow and paints the subtle greys associated with partial shadow. Some figures are partly lit-the child running out of the composition at lower left was noted by Seurat.And you can see in the greyish green shadow the pink underskirt a subtle complementary salmonish pink. Seurat also noted the blue-greyed as he said by distance- of the carpet hanging over the wall high up at the centre of the picture.I would say that the illustration shown here is reasonably accurate but makes the lower half of the painting a little too dark.Seurat, as always,interested in complementary colours, found plenty here-starting with the blue-yellowish opposition of sky and rooftops in the the sun.It is a miracle that the artist was able to create this poetic work 6 years after his only visit to N Africa.

Convulsionists of Tanger: Minneapolis.

So here is a painting which can be used to demonstrate colour theory.I leave the complicated question of how much Delacroix knew of Chevreul at the time of the Convulsionists well alone. Some guidance can be found in Lee Johnson's still useful book of 1963. One thinks that Delacroix cannot have known much in 1838.Most artists at that time will have known of the idea of a colour wheel and perhaps by empirical evidence that a colour can be greyed by its opposite. Seurat evidently believed that Delacroix was thinking along these lines in this painting- whether by influence or instinct.This is why art history  shows Delacroix a precursor of the Impressionists and so on towards Neo-Impressionism and into the C20.The link direct, the proof of an actual source or stimulation in Delacroix is shown in one of Van Gogh's dire transcriptions of Delacroix's religious subject-a Pieta from the Van Gogh Museum.Nevertheless it demonstrates VG's use of complementary colours.

Pieta after a print after  Delacroix. By Van Gogh   

The exhibition does have some fascinating paintings. When did you last see anything in the UK by Bazille or Chassériau? You will find them in this show. Does the National Gallery own a Bazille or a Chassériau? No of course not.

Some of the Delacroixs are more in the way of space fillers.His relevance for Symbolism is certainly demonstrated-at length with the St George theme. There is a delightful room of flower paintings by various artists..

The Lamentation: Boston MFA

But Delacroix was a very uneven artist and this large and now mediocre Lamentation (37) is a perfectly dire example of him at his most half-hearted. He seems to have been relatively proud of it as showing unity in the work.There is a kind of unity, I'll grant that, but it is a unity of gloom.On the left  there are large areas where the paint appears to have sunk and nothing of any substance is visible. Compared to his finest work this painting-not apparently a commission is a failure on several points.Much of the the painting is only partly differentiated murk. If Delacroix painted it like this then he was having an off day. The figure of St John sitting in the foreground with the Crown of Thorns in his hand shows Delacroix"s love of Poussin and the anatomy of the figure is reasonably done. But there is no bold chiaroscuro such as we see attempted with Christ's body and winding sheet.The painting is inconsistent within its own terms.

Christ's body is the colour of dirty snow.The anatomy is  poor. Christ's feet appear at the right of the composition protruding from the grave cloths-painted crudely and reminding me of those cheap dolls which have china feet and ankles but when you pick them up you find that the body is nothing more than padding. The torso of Christ is very poorly realised and the paintwork is crude and rough.The whole figure is elongated in proportions, It does not contribute anything substantial to the theme of Delacroix and Modern Art. We know that Delacroix was working on major decorative schemes when he produced this work but it us poor in comparison.This is baffling and I have to think that the painting has deteriorated or, what amounts to the same thing, been poorly restored.

There is a lovely early Signac ( of the Boulevard de Clichy) which is a joy to see. What a prodigy that man was, and what an artistic bore he became when he turned to watercolour . Signac must feature in this exhibition as the author of the articles later published as "D'Eugène Delacroix au néo-impressionisme". But a more luminous later painting could have been found. But this one of course comes from Minneapolis  and so does not add  substantially to the exhibition costs.

There is a painting by the dedicated follower of fashion Metzinger and it is there because it shows a form of divisionism and belongs to Minneapolis. This crass painting of all the paintings in the world is  used to show developments from Seurat/Signac when no Seurat is exhibited . A Seurat panel would have sufficed but it was not to be.There are one or two early Matisses which show the influence of Signac and we must be thankful for that. The Collioure sketch of Mme Matisse on the rocks attempts to make an equivalent for  intense light and here the form is broken into writhing patches and worms of colour.

 There is nothing in the exhibition to remind us of the existence, let alone the marvel of the Chapelle des Saints-Anges at St Sulpice.This Left Bank church set in a quarter where many artists had their studios, is indeed holy ground for Impressionism, and we can be certain though we may not always be able to prove it that Renoir, Cézanne, Monet, Pissarro and Van Gogh visited these rich decorations-at that time and still, the only major decorative scheme by Delacroix which is easily accesible by the public.
Delacroix and the Rise of Modern Art: Patrick Noon and Christopher Riopelle, NG Company,2015.The exhibition is at the National Gallery until 22 May 2016.
Amended14/04/16.

CADELL ON THE WEST SIDE (OF IONA)

F C B Cadell. Watercolour of Iona, looking towards Eilean Didil 

Photo of Iona,Summer 2015.by the author.

This watercolour which was at one time with the Portland gallery shows the rocky outcrop of Eilean Didil dominating the picture.I would expect it to be Cadell's larger 7"X10" size of paper.

 My own photograph doesn't quite match Cadell's viewpoint. If I had gone further down the machair the match would have been better for the horizon in the photo would then have been different and not such a visual solecism as it is here.This comparison is not in Coupe. My review of Philip MacLeod Coupe's book on Cadell and Peploe on Iona is here and another article on Cadell and Peploe-specifically at the North End is here.

Northumbrian Panorama

Northumbrian Panorama
This is a small acrylic study which is intended to suggest something of the open scenery of north Northumberland looking inland in the general direction of the Cheviots. I think that it could serve as an idea for a bigger painting.