DECEMBER 2006
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After giving Isaac his lunch I work on the Madonna and Child on the kitchen table while he slumbers. Henrietta has gone to a hairdressers appointment
Call from Jessica at the Artists Collection Service for droite de suite (part of the Bridgeman Art Library) asking if they can do an interview with me for their newsletter and could I get the answers to them by the end of next week. It's lucky that Kev has just arrived, so is with Isaac whilst I take the call. Almost immediately afterwards he gets a call so I in turn take Isaac from him.
Saturday 2.12.06
Henrietta, Kev and Isaac take my Mum back up to London with them, where Henrietta and Isaac will take her Christmas shopping next week.
Wallace comes for supper and to collect the Punch and Judy painting. he brings photographs that he took in Estonia and some of Chenderit where he again took a group of people to see the exhibition this afternoon. We do as usual make a visit to the studio.
Over the weekend and today I have managed to do most of the under painting on the Madonna and Child and its frame.
After working on the commission through the day, I answer more fully some of the questions in the interview for the Artists Collection Service and Bridgeman Art Library.
Peter Harris rings from the International Art Consultants; he's just done the presentation in Paris and wants to check that it will be possible to complete a painting for the boardroom of his clients for when they move in - at the end of January !! I do explain that I would have to have the frame and stretchers frames made up so he's checking with the architect on Tuesday of next week the exact measurements.
I have been working on the engraved patterned surface of the coffee pots but am plodding a bit as have caught another cold which is very careless of me so soon after the Estonian one.
I don't stop work as soon as I should have in the studio to complete the interview for ACS, which means that once I start refining and think of a few other interesting points, it's 4 am before I finish it; poor Richard has also got the cold.
Cheque from Brian as half payment for a new commission.
E mail from Jessica at ACS who says the interview will make a great feature for the Newsletter and they will add several pictures.
The Christmas cards are coming fast now and today's includes one from the Dromgoole's who bought my prize winning painting at the Royal Bath and West Show many years ago whilst he was Director of Programmes for HTV. His son Dominic is director of the Globe Theatre. A few years ago R and I were invited to Patrick's Scottish Castle, whilst I was painting a portrait of his wife June - her job was buying in programmes for the BBC.
Christmas card from the Artist Collecting Society and a note saying that more artists are signing up every day - Anthony Caro and Leon Kossoff being two of the latest. As part of the Bridgeman Art Library they have set up in competition to DACS offering a lower rate of commission for collecting Droite de Suite, the European law that gives artist or their estates (for up to 70 years after their deaths) 4% of the resale price of works that are sold on the secondary market. Lots of dealers and auction houses are not keen on it fearing that it will take the centre of the secondary art market away from London as vendors will send works to New York to be sold instead. I think this will only happen with hugely expensive pieces and it does seem fair that the creator should benefit from the increase price of resold works as artists often sell for very little early in their careers or in times of need; sometimes the pieces have even been given as gifts and these too often appear in auction catalogues when perhaps the child of the original recipient decides to cash in. I recently bought back one of Richard's paintings that had been given as a gift to the late husband of a younger woman; she was moving and said she wanted the pennies.
E mail from Japan - a magazine and book editor - who has discovered an image of my painting Tsukiji Fish Market and says they would like to use it on the cover of a book by Theodore Bestor, Professor of Anthropology and Japanese Studies at Harvard,who would like to send me a copy of the book in English. Apparently Tsukiji is going to be closed in 2012 and a new fish market opened on another site outside Tokyo; they are starting an "I love Tsukiji" campaign with supporters all over the world, such as Carlo Petorini, president of "Slow Food" as they are aware that the market represents so much Japanese tradition and culture as well as a network of communities. Once markets have been moved they lose those years of historic characteristics and bonding with the communities they serve and those who often visit from all over the world. I remember visiting Les Halles when I was a student, Jane Ford and I were pushed there on tea trollies by two young men down the centre of the road and drinking in the bars with the French marketeers. Les Halles and Covent Garden have become shopping arcades, as has Smithfield though slightly more interesting because it's in a less expensive part of London and Billingsgate lies empty. One of the wonderful things about Tsukiji was the network of tiny alleyways full of small bars and stalls serving sushi and green tea.
Beavering away on the commissions, taking interludes to write Christmas cards.
ditto
An e mail reply from Yuko, the editor in Japan, who is working on the Tsukiji Fish Market book and the campaign to save it. They have now come up with another plan for their campaign - and exhibition of my paintings of Japan! do I have more? So I guess I'll be digging out the sumos again and putting lots of the other ideas like Kabuki onto canvas.
Day mainly spent on the Coffee Pot Seller or Souk painting.
Lots of activity over at the house as Eddy, Wayne and John were all there today. They have just hung two more doors and are about to start building the balustrade on the mezzanine.
Working very hard mainly on the Souk as want to send a photograph tomorrow. As usual it's 3 am before I start getting ready for bed.
Spend the day working on the Madonna and Child.
Heard Dr Tim Brain talking on Woman's Hour; he's the Chief Constable of Gloucestershire and one of the other members of the Bishop's Breakfast group. He was speaking as an expert in connection to the series of five murders of prostitutes in Ipswich, discussing the language and terminology used in such cases.
Working on Salli's Madonna and Child, Night Life for Cantilever, Karl Monday's Horses and some to the edge of the frame on the Souk.
Work intensely on the Madonna and Child and also the top and sides of the Cantilever commission.
The cards come thicker and faster each day and there are always some from people that have temporarily slipped my mind as I now play a game of trying to remember rather than referring to the address book or printed labels.
Phone Sallie to tell her that the commission is almost done; R then sends her the digital photograph he has just taken of it. I'm so pleased as she says it's even better than she had thought it would be, so will send it tomorrow after a transparency has been made.
Have also e mailed Karl to say Richard will deliver his horses early in January.
In the evening I go over to look at the work Richard's been doing in the new studio; it's looking beautiful, all white with eggshell skirting boards against the beautiful mellow orange of the Oregon pine reclaimed from a nineteenth century Yorkshire mill. The room is a beautiful shape and proportion. The boys are getting on well with the mezzanine balustrade.
We had a statement from the Bridgeman last week showing which works have recently been licensed for reproduction and amongst them was Cinema used on a CD of early cinema recordings. We ordered some for our archive and they have just arrived.
Call from Miranda at Brian Sinfield's Gallery asking if I had done further work on Playing For Time since buying it back as they have put it on their web site. I confirm that I have painted in a ceiling lamp and done some other refining in between which would preclude it from droite de suite. It's a painting that I showed in the Royal Academy in the early 80s. It was purchased by some collectors in New York who recently sold it back to me when they moved to a smaller apartment. I had really bought it for us to keep but as I am so short of new work due to having been working mainly on commissions for the past two or three years, I felt I had to let Brian have something new and that the chances of him selling it would be remote as it's an older piece.
Friday 22.12.06
Another 'phone call from Miranda saying that they have just sold Playing for Time to the people who had, two or three months ago, bought Passage of Time, a smaller work from the same period. They have decided they would have enough room for Playing for Time so are putting Passage of Time in part exchange.
R bumps in to Rose at lunchtime and she tells him that there is a spread in the Weekend Magazine summing up the year; with Charles and Camilla in the middle; I am amongst people like Jilly Cooper, Joanna Trollope, The Queen and Kate Winslet etc. I feel very touched and flattered that they should include another photo and mention.
Henrietta, Kev and Isaac arrive early evening.
I'm giving Isaac his lunch as Henrietta and Kev have gone out to meet friends and do some last minute shopping, when the 'phone rings; it's Lee my New York dealer who is spending the holiday with Jim in their Condo in Puerto Rico. She has 'phoned not only to say Happy Christmas but to say they have friends there who have been admiring two of the works she owns that are hanging there. Could I give her an idea of price for a large commission. R collects Nathan and Rebecca from the station
My sister Gill and my Mum arrive laden with presents. Coincidentally
I'm feeding Isaac again, having made him a salmon fish cake to try and tempt
him onto fish, when I get another call from Lee. It's strange to be wheeling
and dealing on Christmas Day but her friends and clients are wanting to
commission the piece; luckily she has told them it will take a year. He
appears to be a famous tycoon and Robert Redford will be playing him in
a new film. After an afternoon of present giving we all enjoy Richard's
sumptuous feast which includes an aubergine nut roast for the vegetarians.
We play whist and sevens in the evening.
for the vegetarians. We play whist and sevens in the evening.
After the big family lunch Henrietta, Kev and Isaac set off for Andover to visit Kev's parents and family. We chatter on and then play Poker during the evening, at the end of which we bid our farewells to Gill who is leaving from my Mum's early in the morning.
After a leisurely late breakfast, R takes Nathan and Rebecca back to London, calling at Fedex, Heathrow en route to despatch a book and catalogues to Lee in Puerto Rico. I'm back in the studio working on Karl Monday's commission, The Winning Post. It's nice and quiet as our builders are on holiday until the New Year.
R and my Mum persuade me that we ought to cancel the New Years Eve party as I have yet another cold !! There were three possible varieties in the house over Christmas, it must be another strain and as we had invited at least three octogenarians I wouldn't want to risk giving it to them or any of our guests.
Still working on The Winning Post.
Today the news is full of the execution of Saddam Hussein. There are many Like me who feel that it was wrong to execute him; the Vatican have made such a statement and Saudi Arabia feels it was inappropriate to have performed it on the festival of Uhd. Yesterday three million pilgrims gathered on Mount Arrarat and the plains around it to pray during the Hajj. Today begins the ceremony of the stoning of the pillars which is remembering Abraham throwing stones at Satan to drive him away. It seems right that after working on Karl's commission during the day, I move onto the Arabian paintings during the evening.
Have spent most of today reworking the Camels as want to feel I am starting the New Year with the painting more resolved. Instead of the tiny camels receding into the distance I paint more large camels into the foreground; I keep painting them in and out trying to find the right places compositionally, particularly for the heads and curved necks.
It seems strange not having our party; R brings two glasses of wine and mince pie over at midnight with the traditional piece of coal. I phone Nathan in Austria where he, Rebecca and eight other friends (including the Pope's nephew with whom he plays chess) are sharing a chalet.
! ! ! HAPPY NEW YEAR ! ! !