It is done! until August….

My “Artist-in-Residence” at the utterly superb Blues festival in Colne, The Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival 2019, generated many pages of “live” drawings in my sketchbook and ultimately inspired twelve oil paintings. All the paintings are now uploaded to my website. In many ways it was a relief to put the final touches to the final painting. It has taken me about 6 months to complete the work from the 2019 festival. I followed the same regime as in 2017 and 2018 in that I started the works in the order in which I saw the bands perform at Colne. The paintings are not always finished in that order but they are started in that order. They are done! ..however, I am already thinking about who I will study in August 2020 and I am also considering what medium to use for the Colne Blues 2020 series.

In 2017 I produced mainly paintings resulting in twelve paintings and a small number of experimental trace mono-prints. In 2018 I produced mainly lino-cuts, eleven in all and one (loosely commissioned) painting. 2019 generated twelve paintings and I am considering producing a series of mono-prints from the 2020 festival.

Alison Hildyard from BiGiAM Promotions has kindly uploaded every painting and lino-cut inspired by performers at the 2017, 2018 and 2019 festivals to The Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival website..check out the link at the foot of this blog. As mentioned by Alison, I will be exhibiting the 2019 inspired paintings at the 2020 festival. I will be at the back of The Muni Theatre with half a dozen easels displaying twelve paintings. If I am not there I’ll be sketching and photographing musicians at work somewhere at the Festival. Come by and say, “Hello”, I’ll be around to talk about my work and to show drawings from my sketchbooks. In the meantime I am working on a variety of other works and I will also be compiling a list of who to study at Colne in August 2020…decisions, decisions!?

https://www.bluesfestival.co.uk/bluesfestgallery/artistinresidence/