AUGUST 2006

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Tuesday 1.8.06

We've had two or three e mails from Tikkun the Jewish magazine who used one of my works (After the Eleventh) on their cover a couple of years ago. They are trying to put forward peaceful solutions in answer to the Israel / Lebanon conflict and are rather more empathetic to the Palestinians than the present Israeli government. They are taking out a series of advertisements in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Post making suggestions to the government and people of America of ways in which they feel a mutually beneficial agreement could be achieved. The situation there is now so highly flammable that every day there is news of more bombings and rocket attacks and the resultant deaths, injuries and destruction.

Wednesday 2.8.06

Jane my dear friend from student days, Henrietta's Godmother and Mother of my Goddaughter Maxine, comes to lunch.

Thursday 3.8.06

Call from Lee

For a long time we've been looking for a kitchen table big enough to seat 10 but hadn't been able to find one. Last night I had the inspiration that if we found four turned legs then we could make one! John our carpenter has constructed it.

Friday 4.8.06

R drives up to London to take some paintings for the art consultants.

Friday 4.8.06

R drives up to London to take some paintings for the art consultants.

Saturday 5.8.06

Tonight we're giving a dinner party and as I come out of my studio to cross over to the house, Robert and Toyah are walking up the lane. It's lovely to see them looking bright and happy, bearing a basket with two bottles of frozen champagne and a box of home made chocolates. They spot the book of 'Lyn Hall's Cookery Course' lying on the table and I tell them that she's one of our other guests, coming with Ronald Green, the architect. At the same moment I hear them talking to Richard through the open window as they too make their way to the door bearing wine from France and Australia. Again I hear voices this time of Cressida and Charles carrying the most exquisite bunch of lilies, Turkish Delight, a pot of Cressida's home made marmalade and a box brimming with beautiful multi coloured flower heads from the fields of delphiniums that Charles grows for his Natural Flower Confetti company which he runs at Wick Manor; I scatter some across the table; like a rainbow it magically brings it to life and echoes the colour of the little vase of sweet peas I have place at the centre. Ronald takes Charles on a tour of the new part of the house; he's very interested in the reclaimed floor tiles as he's recently bought a little manor house at Hales Abbey that he's hoping to restore using old materials. Later when he enquires about the Saudi Arabian paintings I take him over to the studio to show him the works in progress and Cressida follows shortly after. Whilst there we also discuss the terrible Israeli Lebanon situation. Cressida says that even the more right wing people they know are dismayed by it.

Lyn seems to know many of the same people that Toyah knows, like Anoushka Hemple with whom she shared a flat. It always amazes me how often this happens. She also helps Richard in the kitchen; he's Prepared a cucumber moose which Lyn says is very retro, followed by the sixteenth century recipe "Pulled and Devilled chicken" and salmon with a tofu and avocado accompaniment.

Over dinner the conversation is lively and varied; it ranges from books short film and theatre, to Lucien Freud, gambling life drawing. and laughter as we shared news and stories.

Sunday 6.8.06

R collects my Mum from London. Work on Pilgrim Sisters.

Monday 7.8.06

Nice e mail from Toyah saying thank you for the dinner.

I'm trying to get the two paintings "Pilgrim Sisters" and "Pilgrim Brothers" finished enough to photograph this week, so that I can send the images to Saudi Arabia.

Tuesday 8.8.06

E-mail from Margus re Exhibition in Estonia "it is going to happen!"

The gravity of situation of the Israeli - Hezbolah conflict in Lebanon has not diminished; every day there is news of death injury and destruction. A million people in Lebanon have become displaced having had to flee their homes, there are thousands. It seems appalling that at this stage of civilisation and technology we are still unable to agree to differ and reach settlements verbally. Bombings and rocket attacks will always invoke retaliation. If only Bush and Blair had channelled the energy and vast finance into creating the road map and a state for Palestine, building bridges instead of going to war with Iraq and causing the breakdown of the infrastructure there, positive things would have come from it. If Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said could work with young people of both Israeli and Palestinian nationality to make music together then surely politicians who we entrust our leadership to, could learn from this example.

Wednesday 9.8.06

Apart from the two Pilgrim canvases I now have Karl Monday's big commission back on it's easel in progress. I'm also working on ideas for the Stack's commission.

Thursday 10.8.06

The news today is full of thwarted plans by suspected home grown and foreign terrorists who planned to take chemicals on board transatlantic airliners travelling to Washington, San Francisco and Los Angeles, disguised as soft drinks or small electrical devices which would have been assembled on board. London Heathrow and Manchester airports have come to a standstill, lots of holiday makers and travellers sent home. No hand luggage will be allowed on board apart from flight documentation and baby food (which has to be sampled by the parents in front of security). Other things will be stashed in the hold. Again I do feel that this is one of the repercussions that was almost inevitable in response to both the Iraq war and now the Israeli Lebanon conflict and out blind support of America. Still no suitable treaty or agreements have been drawn up for a peaceful solution.

Friday 11.8.06

E mail from the Morohashi Museum.

It sounds as if the United Nations have come up with a resolution to the problem in the Middle East. The leaders of Hezbolah have agreed to it and it sounds as if Israel will, although they are about to go further into Lebanon. Kofi Annan says that he is very disappointed that it took so long for them to come up with this resolution and that the world has been saddened by the delays during which there has been more loss of life and injury to innocent civilians. Many politicians here are wanting to recall Parliament due to the situation in the Middle East and because we are now on high alert after the uncovering of the planned terrorist attacks on transatlantic airliners. It feels rather like a farce being told that John Prescott is in charge.

Work on Karl Monday's commission during the day then on the Pilgrim Brothers into the night.

Saturday 12.8.06

Richard rushes over to my studio to tell me that an e mail has arrived from Alistair in Saudi Arabia after receiving images of the Pilgrim Brother and Pilgrim Sisters paintings. I am so pleased and relieved as he says "PJ, these are great! Your other suggestions are also approved, please proceed!" Commissions are always a big responsibility being entrusted with creating a painting that the client will relate to and like as well as being honest to ones own vision. I've felt happy all day at the response and have been busily employed adding more to the largest of the Karl Monday commissions.

Sunday 13.8.06

R's been priming two canvases for me in the utility room over the road. My eye is caught by the image on one of last Sunday's papers ( now protecting the floor ) that I had missed. I recognise it to be a van Gogh portrait from the exhibition that Martin Bailey had curated at Compton Verney and the National Gallery of Scotland. So I'm somewhat surprised when I read the headline '£10m van Gogh Portrait Not By Him Say Experts'. The article says that some experts have cast doubt on the authenticity of the painting but Martin, who has written several books on Vincent and also curated exhibitions at the Barbican and the Vincent van Gogh Museum in Holland, says "..there is nothing to dissuade me from thinking it is a van Gogh." And I certainly saw it as such. It's wonderful that an artist who was not really appreciated in his lifetime has become such an icon of this era, with thousands of students and experts making in depth studies of his life and work and millions upon millions of people travelling to view the painting. Probably one of the most immediately recognisable artists in the world helped no doubt by the films, numerous television programmes and plays also devoted to him.

Again spend the day on the Karl Monday commission; the composition is now becoming very colourful and much fuller.

Monday 14.8.06

E mail from the curator, Elin, of the Draakon Gallery in Tallinn confirming the date for the hanging.

Whilst working in the studio on Karl's painting, I remember that Toyah had told me that she was going to be talking about her favourite painting in the National Portrait Gallery, as part of their 150th anniversary celebration on Radio 4. I turn on and today it's Malcolm Maclaran (who studied art and later became a professor at the Royal College but is most famous for managing the group The Sex Pistols and having had Vivienne Westwood as his girlfriend - they claim to have invented Punk), talking about the Andy Warhol silkscreen print of the Queen. But tomorrow, Tuesday BBC Radio 4 at 3.45 pm, it will be Toyah, talking about Dora Carrington's 1916 portrait of Lytton Strachey. It will be fascinating to hear her insights particularly as she played Carrington at the Chichester Festival a few years ago.
Tuesday 15.8.06

The Karl Monday commission.

Toyah from the National Portrait Gallery (introduced by the Director Sandy Nairn) speaks eloquently about both Carrington and Lytton Strachey and the portrait which she says is painted with unconditional love. She reads extracts from Carrington's diary written at the time of painting it and one of her most poignant poems.

In the evening we go to supper with Jane and David. Ann, an artist (Jane's long time friend from university ) whose birthday it is today and her husband Dick a professor of economics at an American university (he also advises the government and the World Bank) are the other guests. I have a fascinating conversation with Ann about her late father Robert Waller the poet (descendant of the seventeenth century poet Edmund Waller), who was also a producer for BBC Radio and instrumental in giving many writers and poets their break. A passionate ecologist he was editor of the Soil Association journal and associate editor of The Ecologist. I'm intrigued to hear what it was like for her to grow up in a family with such a talented and influential father who wrote and a clever Mother mother who was a gifted musician. Hilary Spurling's new biography of Sonia Orwell "The Girl from the Fiction Department" includes a photograph of Sonia with Robert Waller in Paris. His books include The Pilgrimage of Eros (1992); be Human or Die (1973) and The Two Natures (1951). Jane had prepared a wonderful array of food which included a courgette curry; feta cheese and spinach pie, a mouth watering home-made black current ice-cream with blackberries and peaches followed by the most delicious courgette date and honey cake. She'd grown all the fruits and vegetables herself (apart from the dates) superb!

Wednesday 16.8.06

The Karl Monday commission's making good progress.

Cressida calls with her two beautiful daughters, Violet and Nell, to collect the little painting that she has bought for Violet who has just turned eighteen. They are on their way to the cinema.

Thursday 17.8.06

E mail from the publishers who are going to reproduce my painting The Big Game in their book on the history of Chelsea FC. They want a much bigger scan of the transparency. R also sent Hugh a scan of Tuesday and he in return e-nailed us scans of The Four Seasons and Fin de Siecle which we needed to forward to Estonia for the exhibition catalogue.

Friday 18.8.06

E mail from Elin at the Draakon gallery in Estonia.

In the earlier part of the day, start anew the composition for the Stack's commission, redrawing with paint and brush, this time on the white gessoed canvas rather than the unbleached titanium. Leaving it to consider I return to Karl's horses. Around midnight I turn to the sky and desert blocked in months ago on one of the Saudi Arabian canvases and now, having had the go ahead, I place two figures, the main protagonists. Although they are only sketched in they already feel to have a presence, perhaps because they have lingered so long in my mind's eye waiting to appear.

Saturday 19.8.06

R goes to Little Rissington, another reclamation yard, to collect tiles for studio space in the new part of the house. We wanted quarry tiles to go with the old Victorian tiles we have designed by E W Godwin (who designed Whistler's house in Chelsea and whose widow married the painter). Meanwhile I work on the Stack's commission until he returns. It's beginning to take more shape now that I've started to add vague figures, tables and the black and white harlequin floor tiles. So it feels rather surreal to then be laying out real tiles, designing the pattern for Eddy to lay next week. After this interlude I return to the rush of movement and multiple patterns of jockeys silks on Karl's commission.

Sunday 20.8.06

Set out for London after spending the morning in the studio working on the Karl Monday commission., arriving here early evening. As we pass through Trafalgar Square the Mark Quinn sculpture of Allison Lapper Pregnant gleams in the sunshine. I always feel a special affection for this piece as Allison had suffered through her mother having been given the drug thalidomide when she was pregnant and the Star College was founded with just a handful of students whose mothers had likewise been given thalidomide. I love this sculpture, she sits there, proud and elegant above the crowd, many of whom are posing for photographs on Landseer's lions.

Henrietta, Isaac and I go for a long walk in Greenwich Park whilst Richard and Kev drive around the area, looking at property. The small studio seems to be taking a very long time and our solicitor is rather concerned, so we're keeping our eyes open for an alternative. Over supper we discuss projects and locations.

Monday 21.8.06

Discussions with the Art Consultants in the morning - current projects seem to be going well. Also hear from Caroline and Simon that they can come to supper to discuss their commission.

We manage to set out earlier from London so am able to do a couple of hours on Karl Monday's commission.

Tuesday 22.8.06

Phone call from Julian design editor of the publishers who are producing the book on Chelsea Football Club. They had asked to reproduce my painting THE BIG MATCH. At their request Richard e mailed the image and also sent via the post it on a disc as it's now somewhat urgent. Julian phones to say that there seems to be a problem with the scan there are two vertical lines running down either side of the painting and he wondered if it could have been scanned from a book or another publication. i assure him that it hasn't but I will discuss it with R who had made the scan; he too is puzzled until he looks at the transparency and laughs - it's the two side edges of the frame where it meets the canvas, the horizontal edges have disappeared in the crowd at the top and bottom. I realise that although Julian may well have seen the work in reproduction but perhaps not in reality and therefore doesn't realise that the frame is an integral part of each of each of my paintings. Many years ago, out of frustration at not being able to find any frame compatible with the work - they seemed to cut them off at the edges - I wanted them to continue as if over the wall. Like Picasso I felt that traditional gilded frames made them look far too grand, I liked them to become part of the environment and also wanted to use the three dimensional effect to entice the viewer in.

Spend the day working on Karl Monday's commission.

Wednesday 23.806

Working into the crowd, the silks and the horses, still adding but also beginning to refine.

I hear the letter box rattle and look expectantly for the post or a free paper but nothing emerges. It didn't sound strong enough to be Eddy or Wayne knocking at the door but on further investigation I see through the glass a small but sturdy child with a large round face. "Hello where have you come from?"I ask

"Cheltenham." he replies.

"where's your Mummy?"

"Cheltenham." he reiterates.

Looking at the shiny silver scooter lying on the drive I know it would be extremely unlikely for a little boy to have scooted the four miles down the main road. Whilst I'm putting my jacket on he scampers into the garden and looks through the french windows into the studio, points and says "that's a painting". I push the doors open for him to see further. "And that's a painting and that's a painting." His eye is then alight on a coin lying on the floor "A penny!" which I tell him he can keep. We walk onto the Lane he tells me his name is Harvey, Harvey Alexander Perks is 4 years old. I stop a woman who we often see walking past and ask if she recognises this child. She thinks he's from the thatched cottage; and says "they won't be pleased he's out on his own." He tells me he's come from the other direction but we decide we'd better try the cottage. I admire the scooter that Harvey points out to Richard has an England flag on its base; I expect it goes fast I say without thinking. Richard gives me a knowing look as Harvey speeds off with me running full pelt beside him. He tells me the cottage isn't his house but is quite happy to knock even louder than I do. The father appears first at the window then at the door. He admits that he looks rather like his son but isn't. Harvey fires questions at him "Why have you got a dog? "Why have you got two dogs?" We're off again this time up the Lane; Wayne, Eddy's young assistant, appears. He's not sure if he recognises the boy but did see a woman going down with a child on a scooter and hasn't;t seen her come back. We then accost another woman who looks rather like a retired school teacher, she tries to get him to walk along holding her hand but he's having none of that and jumps straight back on the scooter chuckling as I have to run faster to keep up. She calls out "Your Mummy will be worried about you." and he mutters under his breath "My Mummy will be cross with me." On reaching the end of the Lane he clambers over the wall and into the garden of the nearest bungalow saying "my Mummy doesn't live in a bunjilow." By now we've stopped several children on bicycles and adults. Richard has gone into an adjoining road asking people there if they know a little boy called Harvey. Another woman and her dog are also pondering his plight. He suddenly points and exclaims "That's my Mummy!" as a large 4 wheel drive turns the corner - out steps, a pretty young woman beautifully rounded with a large bun at the back of her head, she bears a striking resemblance to Harvey. "This is the third time he's done this," she says, "last time he was right down at the other end of the village." She's had to wake up her husband who was on shift work to look after the other two children and there's also a small curly haired girl about two years of age in the car who she points out has just managed to get out of her safety seat in the excitement and is standing up. She bundles him and the scooter into the car thanks us and is off. They've gone before I realise I'm still clutching the penny I was holding for Harvey whilst he rode the scooter which his Mum said wasn't even his, he'd taken ot from next door's garden!

Thursday 24.8.06

R's moving some paintings around the studio for me; it's sunny so decide to do a little mowing. I look to where I usually park the mover outside the studio door, neither it or my long handled shears are there gone. We search around to no avail they have gone! R says they will probably turn up at a car boot sale somewhere. The mower, a hand push one, only cost £35 new so perhaps whoever took it just wanted the exercise like me!

Friday 25.8.06

There is a full page add in the RA magazine for the V&A much of it devoted to the new Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art.

With a terracotta wash and unbleached titanium add more tables and diners to the Stacks interior -still pondering the colour and shapes. Beginning to refine Karl mondays commission. After dinner I start to paint camels on the new Saudi Arabian canvas.

Saturday 26.8.06

Work further into the camels, the Stack's and Karl Monday's commissions.

Sunday 27.8.06

It's Nathan's birthday today, so we drive up to London collecting him and Rebecca en route, for a party in Henrietta and Kev's garden. It's a double celebration as Rebecca's just heard she's got funding to do her PhD at Goldsmiths. And of course we pass Isaac around from person to person. and I get the pleasure of feeding him carrot and sweet potato!

Monday 28.8.06

We collect Henrietta and Isaac for our trip to Tate Modern to see the Pierre Huyghe and the Kandinsky Exhibitions. The Pierre Huyghe are interesting but I perhaps find some of the exhibits a little cold and soulless but that maybe what he is trying to convey; huge white doors rotate across the gallery on tracks, panels with text celebrating days. His films on the other hand were very exciting, juxtaposing images and sound from man made urban with that of the natural environment.

Although more familiar with Kandinsky's work it was still a revelation to see so many gathered together in one place; beautiful colours (similar to Chagal), textures and patterns which seem to capture Isaac's interest - as I held him in front of them he gazed fascinated studying each for a considerable time, some more than others. We had lunch between the two exhibitions and Henrietta had brought Isaac's (it was his first exhibition apart from my Paradise show in Gloucester).

On our return there's a message from Lee in New York in response to a letter I'd written regarding a damaged painting; she says it's beautifully written - I could have been a lawyer (her husband is).

Tuesday 29.8.06

R goes to weigh the paintings for Estonia at Robert and Toyah's.

Work on the Stack's interior (it's now beginning to feel coherent), Karl Monday's and later in the evening I make a beginning on the final Saudi Arabian canvas. I paint in a couple of Arabian coffee pots, their flamboyant exotic shapes inspire.

Wednesday 30.8.06

E mail from the sponsor. Make progress on all fronts.

Thursday 31.8.06

In today's post a parcel from Bridgeman Art Library containing a copy of Liberation (June 6) which has a large reproduction of my painting The Beautiful Game, the article seems to be (as the French do so well) combining sport with art and culture and also mentions Picasso, Freud, Marx, Kant etc. etc. The painting is now in the collection of The Open Museum in Leicestershire.