Above – today’s paintings in progress from a new series following a recent trip to Gloucestershire. The first two showing canals and the darker one of the Severn in twilight, which needs quite a lot more work.
This will be a series of 12 paintings on 14×12″ panels, quite a nice size to work on though it feels small after the Damascus paintings. I got in touch with a few galleries in nearby Bristol who’re interested in my work so this should lead to an exhibition some time this year I hope!
The Severn was a strange experience, we actually walked out on to the sand which as it turns out was quite foolhardy; the apparently solid sand bars can suddenly shift beneath you to the mud beneath, though I think the danger is more to do with the fact it’s a tidal river which comes in suddenly, which could leave you surrounded by water (as once happened when I was a kid, returning from Crammond Island near Edinburgh). Apparently if you’re sinking into mud you shouldn’t struggle but instead get horizontal to disperse weight, then crawl for your life!
The third wood panel for my Damascus Rose series has arrived so I’ll be completing the third painting soon, more posts on that coming up…
In the meantime, my sale of limited edition prints from the east coast Harbours series began today on Achica – Link Here
Above – ‘Damascus Rose 1’ – inspired by Syrian tile designs, and the history of Rosa Damascena – the rose produced in Syria which is developed into rose absolute (currently not in production due to the war in Syria). And ‘Damascus Rose 2’ – loosely based on a map of Damascus from above.
Today’s painting of a loch in Coigach near Achiltibuie in the North West of Scotland. (I was visiting friends there before the trip to the Hebrides with poet Louise Palfreyman).
Also (below) the base for ‘Damascus Rose 2’, next in the series of three. I’ll be blocking out lines to reflect a map of Damascus, then overlaying with textured black and removing the blocking to reveal these tones underneath, though I can see other possibilities in this, and see the vague figures of a horse and two figures crossing a plain in sunset, but I’ll stick to the plan hopefully –
The highly textured look of the Achiltibuie landscape at the top of this post is due to using my palette as the base – something I do quite often since I usually paint on wood, so I’ll use a spare wood panel as a palette, then if it starts to look interesting I’ll work on bringing out a painting from it. Here’s another one I did last year which remained semi abstract…
‘East Coast’. Mixed media on 10×10″ wood panel
And two photos of my palettes from today …
Someone posted a link to ‘famous artist’s paint palettes’ on facebook the other day – (http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/05/paint-palette-portraits-matthias-schaller/ ) so I amused myself by trying to guess which artist each palette belonged to, here they are, have a guess! (artist’s names below the images at the end of this post) …
Back to painting a little today after all the festive distractions – added ultramarine blue overlaid with cerulean blue (left) to the background of roses which I think balances the painting colour-wise, then scraped back the paint for more texture (above).
‘Elie Bay’ finished today – this was privately commissioned by someone as a surprise Christmas present for his partner (who liked my previous painting of Elie Bay on the east coast of Fife). I think it’s fairly similar and hope it’s happily received!
Today’s painting on the theme of the rose of Damascus.
I’ve decided to rename the series Rosa Damascena to avoid possible associations with my name, since someone recently said – ‘I didn’t know you were born in Damascus’. !
I was discussing a future exhibition of these with an artist who suggested mixing essence of rosa damascena with the paint. It’s a nice idea but as it’s about £10 per ml (a teaspoon is 5ml) this would be a bit pricey! I did in fact order a couple of mls of pure absolute of rosa damascena recently, so instead of mixing it with paint (which would taint the perfume anyway) I’d most likely dab a bit on the hand of each viewer as they entered the exhibition (or a card if they preferred). The room would be beautifully perfumed by the end of the preview! – the scent of rosa damascena is different from the tea rose (which is what we mostly see in the UK) which has a light, almost lemony/apple scent, quite sharp and soapy, though sweet and floral. Rosa Damascena is sweeter and much deeper, with a peppery edge – if you can imagine the scent of Turkish Delight magnified quite a bit.
It’s tricky to get an idea of scale so here’s my hand against the painting, and a few details also showing the sides of the panel (plywood panel 3×3 ft and 2″ deep) …
Some more work on Damascus Rose today, quite a rainy day so I couldn’t paint or photograph much beyond 3pm as it was so overcast (hence blurry photos).
I’ve showed more of the process and details below. A lot of it was painting the blue swathe then making rose patterns in wet paint with my nails, then repeating till it seemed right. I won’t really be able to tell until there’s some natural light tomorrow.
A bit more work on Damascus Rose today, adding more layers. The light was getting very dim when I took this so it doesn’t show colours exactly as they are. Here are previous stages..
Some photos of a painting in progress today, 3×3 feet (36×36″).
This the start of three large paintings I’m planning over the next few months on the theme of Damascus. This first painting in progress loosely follows a map of Damascus from above, which I saved from Google Maps. It shows the River Barada flowing into the centre of the city all the way from the mountains of Lebanon to Umayyad Mosque.
It’s a difficult theme, which will be a challenge but it’s sometimes the paintings I find emotionally difficult that turn out to be most affecting.
This early stage of the painting is reminding me a bit of the work of Cy Twombly, which was not at all intentional. I had intended to make a sort of subtle relief map, then got some paints in my hand and went off in an entirely different direction without really thinking. I think I’ll continue to build up these transparent layers. I’ll also be exploring patterns that echo the colours and Syrian designs of the Damascus rose.
Cy Twombly ‘Hero and Leandro’
Cy Twombly Ferragosto
Watching the unfolding horror of the war in Syria can feel too much to take in. It’s hard to imagine, or want to imagine, how it feels to see the city you were born in destroyed and everything familiar turn to dust.
Sometimes it’s peripheral things that lead you to a place where you can allow yourself to feel or try to empathise with such painful reality. I recently discovered the poems of Bejan Matur, a Kurdish poet from Turkey, whose work often deals with the ravages of war. The following poem is called ‘Being’…
Time of roses And autumn Long ago dust mingled with bones And the universe ceased. Being Beginning in the home and never-ending. New words should have summoned you The pattern of dust should have shown what was to come And you remaining still far off.
Roses are a universal symbol of love, particularly in Middle Eastern culture. I recently ordered a few mls of pure Damascus rose in absolute, because production of Damascus rose oil has recently almost come to a halt for obvious reasons. In years to come, images of death and rubble will come to mind when we think of Syria, but the farmers who tend the roses of Damascus live in hope that peace is in the not too distant future, so they will return to producing the world’s most famous rose (the scent is familiar to us in perfume, rose water and ‘Loukoum’ – known as Turkish Delight in the West). This poem by Matur is called ‘Peaceful Morning’ …
A time before time A morning of peace Of roses And fountains. A welcoming Of the creatures Of the latecomer Rescued from the hand of sleep In the dappled dawn. So arms Moved away from a statue’s body And found a human. Desired. What belonged Far more than words Was love.
While I was reading the work of Matur and researching the Damascus rose, I had a song constantly playing in my head; Kate Bush’s new version of ‘And dream of sheep’, about a woman lost at sea, longing for sleep and oblivion from pain, and at the same time connection and home. She had the song recorded live while she was immersed in water. (video below)
Watching the video it was impossible not to think of refugees lost at sea; to feel connected, also impossible not to decide to attempt this subject, however limited my talent is to tackle such a theme.
Above – today’s paintings in progress from a new series following a recent trip to Gloucestershire. The first two showing canals and the darker one of the Severn in twilight, which needs quite a lot more work.
Rose Strang Artworks 