March 2007
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In today's post I receive a package from John Childs at Chenderit School. He had told me that I'd been mentioned in the AS level exam paper guidelines: "... many artists have freed their work from the confines of the traditional picture frame and also the picture plane. Frank Stella, Howard Hodgkin, P J Crook, Pablo Picasso and Kit Williams have all explored the breaking of these artificial boundaries in their work..."
More work on the commissions.
Phone call from Jessica at ACS (The Artists Collecting Society) telling me that they will send me a copy of the interview I did with them before it goes to print. She also asks if I would like to become a Director of ACS to which I reply "I would be honoured."
In the post a personal invitation to Cleeve School's evening of arts from the deputy head. It was at this event last year that I had the privilege of opening the new sixth form centre.
In the evening we return Rita Peters' painting The Novice Hurdle which she had kindly loaned for the Day at the Races exhibition and I had been very remiss in taking so long to return.
We get a wonderful surprise E mail from Theo Waddington who we had not heard from for a long time as he was badly injured in a car accident a couple of years ago. He's going to come and visit us one morning during the Gold Cup Festival with his friend Toby Balding and hopefully Vivienne too.
An exciting post today as I receive a copy of the about to be published book by Theodore C. Beston 'TSUKIJI The Fish Market at the Center of the World' with a reproduction my painting of the same on its cover and also much larger as the two end papers. It's beautifully produced and laid out and I feel honoured for my painting to be the image they have used. The book is being launched next week and is part of a campaign to try and save the market as there are plans to move it to the outskirts of Tokyo in 2012. The editor says that they will tell the press the story of how I came to make the painting.
The papers from Companies House for my appointment to the board of directors of ACS also arrive with my second cheque for Droite de Suite!
Good news tonight when I make my evening call to Gill. After the electric shock to Howell's heart yesterday, the beat has now regulated and his temperature has gone down. So it is expected that he will be going home on Monday. Also remarkable is that the man in his ward who has been waiting for a transplant is likely to receive one tonight as a donated heart is being driven to the hospital in the hope that it will be a suitable replacement.
During our nocturnal perambulation we enjoy observing the lunar Eclipse with further visits to the garden as I write this to see the moons luminosity grow again as the earths shadow gradually moves across it and away.
Working on the commissions.
Ditto day but have the joy of speaking to Howell in the evening; he is now at home.
Mrs Lennard's painting.
In the evening I hear an item on Front Row, the Radio 4 review programme on about the Wellcome Trust museum / gallery which now houses Henry Wellcome's huge collection. It ranges from the medical, (a lot of which made up the Medicine Man exhibition at the British Museum a couple of years ago) to paintings, prints and the most extraordinary objects from all over the world with any connection with medicine. During the summer from July to September there will be an exhibition called 'The Heart' during its span there will be a live open heart operation performed by the surgeon Mr Francis Wells of Papworth Hospital. It was he who operated on Howell a couple of weeks ago
Trying early to bed early to rise all this week! in preparation for Friday.
It was fortunate that we had risen well before time as we receive a call from the Hereford care line - Lyn Horne our neighbour down the Lane has fallen over again. We run to the rescue, my canvas coat tails flying, to find her lying wedged between the end of her bed and wall. It takes some careful manoeuvring of the bed before we can release and lift her, particularly as she has no feeling down one side of her body and recently broke her shoulder in a similar fall. Luckily she doesn't seem to have done too much damage this time, R delivers Mrs Lennard's commission to the gallery
Edward collects me at 7.15am and very kindly gives Richard tickets for Friday's Gold Cup day. On our way over to Gloucester for the Bishop's Breakfast, he asks me who Theo Waddington is as he noticed he is a guest on Toby Balding's table for lunch on Tuesday and suggests we might like to join them for lunch as feels it could be very interesting for us to meet the other guests who include Toby's son, the ringmaster from Gifford's Circus and Nell who founded it. We also discuss the topic for discussion at this morning's Breakfast, the changing population of Gloucestershire with the birth rate dropping and young people moving away. By 2026 the number of youngsters under 15 will have fallen to 16% whilst the number of people over 65 is estimated to increase to 20% and 40% of households will be single occupancy.
Commissions,
Lee rang from New York. She and Jim had had lunch in Washington with their friend Senator Joe Leiberman who she thinks will run for President; also Resident Commissioner Lewis of Puerto Rico who Jim is advising on the island's economy which has been terrible; last year there was a two month period when public workers like teachers didn't get paid. They were enlisting Senator Leiberman's help.
We attended the Evening of Arts at Cleeve school in the new Sixth Form Centre (that I had the privilege of opening last year). Some wonderful robots, art work, films and the most marvellous Samba Band.
It's a beautiful sunny day for the Festival and as we drive slowly up to the Racecourse we are astounded by the huge number of cars already parked there by midday. Helicopters to the left - coaches and the wonderful steam train to the right. We find the marquee; however Theo is not there as he isn't well enough but Toby Balding (the trainer of a previous Gold Cup winner) rings Theo on his mobile so I can speak to him. Toby, his family and guests, make us very welcome and Toby when giving out tips says "here's one for PJ, Sublimity at 100-1" by the time I put the bet on it's actually 16-1 and it does come in as outright winner of the Champion Hurdle. The food is very good and keeps on coming throughout the afternoon.
After we get back from the Races we get a call from our friend Dr Charles Slosberg, who's also been to the races and is coming to visit but when Richard drives him back to Cheltenham for his coach home the traffic is so bad that he misses his coach and R drives him to Oxford instead.
Brian Sinfield rings about my forthcoming exhibition with him, opening mid July Wonders if I have any images for publicity.
Letter from Mrs Lennard saying how pleased she is with her commission.
Supper at the Dormy House with Butch and his guests is most enjoyable. They include Jamie Reid who writes for the Financial Times and is currently writing a book on Victor Chandler; he's written several books on racing and was at one time racing correspondent of Private Eye. He entertains us with a wonderful mock commentary of tomorrows Gold Cup with Kauto Star, the favourite, as the winner. Butch is the perfect host, a fascinating young man who started his career as an art dealer and tells us wonderful stories of acquisitions made and missed during that time. He owns my painting On Course which was commissioned at Cheltenham a few years ago.
The weather isn't quite as good today for the Gold Cup; it's been brilliant all week and we are not quite as good at picking winners but just like Jamie's commentary last night it's Kauto Star who becomes the new champion. This time we watch it from upstairs in the Centaur, the huge new exhibition centre at the Racecourse. I like to observe the punters at all levels and the excitement here where people are packed in fairly tightly is palpable.
Back home to the studio where before the race I had made a couple of new starts on canvases that Richard had recently stretched and primed.
We drive to Pershore for lunch with Robert, Toyah, Cressida and Charles at Belle House. It's a glorious sunny day and Robert is on his usual good form. Toyah's just back from playing a concert in Butlins Minehead. She says that performers now find these holiday camps to be really good venues as the audience can all stand up rather that sitting down as they have to in most halls. I seem to remember that Nathan went to one a year or two ago where there were a lot of performance art events as well as groups. Cressida told us some entertaining stories about letters she has written to Gordon Brown and Tony Blair offering good advice and sometimes enclosing a book that she feels would be very relevant for them to read and says that usually the letters are passed onto the Foreign Office who tend to photocopy several pages of what they think is relevant information, proving the point that politicians rarely listen to the electorate. She's wonderfully vocal and it is sad that they do not heed her or the many other people who take the time and trouble to bring to their attention matters of huge importance. After lunch we go back to Robert and Toyah's for a cup of tea and exchange our belated Christmas presents.
I'm at work in the studio again by 5 pm and during the evening R brings me more canvases that he has just prepared so that the ideas can expand.
I receive a wonderful tall hexagonal box which when opened reveals the most beautiful bunch of pale pink and white tulips from my beloved children, followed up by phone calls from them both. And in yesterday's post a lovely card enclosing a painting by Isaac's own fair hand, a mirror image mono print in vibrant reds, greens and purples!
Yesterday I had a phone call from Lisa who was a student at the National Star College some twenty years ago; she often phones when she needs a little cheering up. It's very nice for me to have been able to enjoy this friendship for so long; Lisa's very articulate and often explains the difficulties of living with disabilities. She has a wonderful sense of humour so it's not difficult to make her laugh. I'm touched as she has phoned to wish me Happy Mothers Day even though she was feeling rather under par. Her own mother had polio and Lisa spent all her young life in the care of the nuns at St. Rose's School in Stroud and always speaks very affectionately of it.
My Mum comes to supper; we've bought her a manual lawn mower like mine which she had tried out and enjoyed - we also exchange plants.
Dave Harries from BBC Radio Gloucester comes to do an interview in the studio during the morning. A very nice and perceptive man, he also makes films, one in particular of the artist Tony Foster who painted on the slopes of Everest for Sky Art and is also being shown by British Airways as one of their in flight films during April and May.
In the afternoon Rita Peters and Jenny come for a cup of tea and to visit the studio to see The Second Kiss, my cinema painting; they are both members of the Cheltenham Film Club (Jenny is the Organising Secretary). The painting is of particular interest to Rita because it combines both her passion for the movies and she also relates to the pyramids in the background, having been to Egypt twice, on the second trip she took a cruise on a small steamer with only forty passengers. A lot of the things that she saw then, such as inside the tombs of the Pharoes have since been closed to the public as it was found that the wall paintings were gradually disintegrating. She decides she would like the painting and we arrange a date in April for the hanging party.
A good day in the studio working on three of the new canvases for my forthcoming exhibition at Brian Sinfield's gallery which opens on 14th July. It feels good to have the freedom and movement of these beginnings.
When R takes two small paintings to the Darkroom Alistair the photographer tells him he was recently at Dean Close School where he noticed a piece of work by one of the students that strongly resembles my Sweetshop painting with the three shelves of jars and the child looking through. I'd love to be able to look from above and observe across the country those students ( and their creations) who have been inspired by my work. Sometimes I hear from them but more often not. I wonder if being mentioned in the AS exam guidance paper again will have increased the number. It's good to feel that it feeds back into the art education of the young.
R then delivers the two small paintings to the Fosse Gallery. It's a beautiful sunny day so he enjoys his journey along the Fosse Way.
I have been painting a very large tiger on one of the three new canvases that Richard had prepared; but it crosses my mind that I would like a wider frame than the one I have around it. So it seemed very fortuitous last night when wandering through my old studio in the house, I happened upon a beautiful heavy, more three dimensional one that Albert made for me some years ago. When I mention (thinking out loud) that I wish I had used this one, R tells me that actually it will fit the size canvas that I have painted the tiger upon. So it's with added joy today that the tiger and frame are united.
We're off to the Star College for 10.45 as the new high-tech residential accommodation building, Cleeve, is being opened by Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, MP for the Cotswolds. After his speech we are shown with a small group of others around Ben (who had the most beautiful smile)'s bedroom and are amazed by his skilful use of a circular foot pedal on his wheelchair that acts as a mouse for the computerised controls of the environment in his room. He opens and closes the curtains and the window and controls the television and the doors. He can also raise and lower his bed and there is a hoist that will lift him from his bed and take him to the bathroom. In the headrest of his wheelchair he had two buttons that he operates with the back of his head in conjunction with the mouse. He had acquired all these new skills within the short period of two weeks. After this we start talking to Aaron who invites us to see his room. One of the wonders of his bathroom was the sink which would go up or down!
Statement from the Bridgeman Art Library. Interestingly 50% were reproduced in America. It's wonderful that works painted twenty years ago have another life in reproduction. Playground (1985) for instance is on the list twice, once from the Bridgeman's New York office and once used from Getty Images.
Surging ahead on the new canvases
Over the last few days and this coming week there are lots of events, including a service in St Paul's with the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Queen and Tony Blair, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade. Plays and readings on William Wilberforce who was the prime mover in Parliament. Lots of discussion about whether there should be an apology or not and at the service there was an outburst by one of the guests saying there should be an apology. It brought tears to my eyes and I'd like to apologise as I think saying sorry does help the healing process.
Must remember to send Gill in the Appeals Office at the National Star College the address of our friends and neighbours Richard and Rose who very kindly donated a mountain bike (that Richard had won in a British Legion raffle) for a prize in a similar event.
Am today concentrating all efforts on the big tiger canvas as I think it might be the most suitable for Brian's pre exhibition publicity.
Tom calls during the afternoon; he's carrying an oil painting suspended from a trouser hanger, the two bulldog-like clips holding the upper edge. It is his first attempt at oils and is amazingly proficient. It looked like a seascape with the red lights of a distant boat on the horizon, an inky black sea and sky with atmospheric cloud-like texture across the top of the board; astoundingly skilful for someone with Parkinson's Disease. He has a natural ability for creating good compositions as we've seen in his many photographs but here he's transferred it with energy into a painting. It's still very wet and I'm most impressed with the ingenuity of this improvisation for carrying it which hooks onto his tri-legged metal walker.
It's a late night as I'm working on my very large tiger and angel ( I think the smaller versions have all been in preparation for this ) so that R can take an image of it to show Brian tomorrow for use in exhibition publicity.
Rob Whittle rings and speaks to Richard as I'm still in bed. He wants to know if he can come this morning to collect the small newspaper work that I'd borrowed back, as he wants to take it to an art fair the week after next; he's also had an enquiry about racing paintings.
Another small cheque for Droite de Suite from a painting sold at Christie's last year, from DACS who were at that time the only artists collecting agency.
R photographs my mighty tiger and drives it over to Burford.
Lisa rang for a few comforting words as she had fallen again and had been taken to hospital to be checked out. It seems amazing that we've known her for twenty years; Henrietta made a cake for her eighteenth birthday which we took up to the Star College, something Lisa never forgets.
Letter from Sarah Greaves of New Hall, Cambridge, thanking me for my painted postcard. This is the second year they have got artists from their collection to draw or paint a postcard for them to sell in order to maintain their collection - the biggest collection of women's art in the world apart from the one in Washington DC.
Rose, brings me a cutting from her Newspaper with photographs of the two Caravaggios recently attributed to him after the cleaning off of layers and layer of grime and varnish; The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew and Boy Peeling Fruit. Probably acquired by Charles 1st who amassed a large collection. Interestingly Rubens (who was Flemish) used to act as a buyer and advisor to the King and sometimes as a spy in foreign courts!
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