U3A students gather for a studio visit 16.6.09

Monday 1.6.09

Up early to travel up to London for the Varnishing Day luncheon at the Royal Academy. A particularly interesting exhibition with a lot more figurative work this year; Mick Rooney’s generous hanging of the small room makes it fascinating with so many tiny works and prints. He’s also hung the Lecture Room gallery where my painting Metropolis is. Again very well with a wide diversity of figurative pieces. The exhibition has all the big names including Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Tapies, Michael Graig Martin, Jim Dine, Anthony Gormley, Richard Long, Cy Twombly, Louise Bourgoise etc. Someone calls out my name and taps me on the shoulder - it’s Sharron of the Fosse Gallery who says eleven of her artists are showing in the exhibition. She introduces me to Lucy Pratt  who’s one of the eleven; Lucy bought one of my tiny paintings from the Fosse Gallery a couple of years ago. She also introduces me to David Imms who tells me he recently saw Lord Bath’s collection of my work at Longleat. she also introduces me to Chris Orr.  A little later on I hear a man address me and it’s Howard Phipps the wood engraver who donated the beautiful little Chesil Beach engraving to the Star Art exhibition. We chat mostly about the RWA.

Tuesday 2.6.09

It’s another gloriously hot day. My two friends from art school days, Janet and Joyce, are coming to lunch. Joyce arrives first at about 12.15 bearing a wonderfully exotic orchid; she’s been sitting in the car biding her time as she has the most wonderful habit of arriving everywhere early - I should take a leaf out of her book as I have a tendency to try and fit in too much before setting out anywhere which has sometimes meant me setting out at the time I’m supposed to arrive! Janet appears exactly on time also bearing a beautiful plant that looks as if it’s been painted. We try to do this lunch each year as a shared birthday event, Janet being April, Joyce being May and I’m June. We always have a lot to catch up on and this time we particularly rejoice over the arrival of Joyce’s new little granddaughter Holly.

Later back in the studio I’m working on Madge’s painting and feeling really guilty that it’s taken so long due to having so many commissions in progress. Wallace had mentioned it at the Silver Dinner and I told him that I really should have finished it before his but that when he came to Paris for my show in September he said he hoped that if he bought The Automobile he wouldn’t have to wait even longer for his commission! So I made a point of finishing that first.

Wednesday 3.6.09

Very nice e mail from Lyn Hall thanking us for a fabulous time on Sunday and commenting that the food, wine, venue, occasion and company all melded to make it a really great evening. She says she was particularly impressed by the anniversary cake which must have taken many hours to perfect - the College made sure it was wonderfully moist in the traditional way and the straight edges of the frame were a real test of skill. She was really touched by the effort care and skill that went into the gift. These are particularly encouraging comments from Lyn as she is a cookery expert and writer of whom Michael Roux said she is the best cookery teacher he knows. She’s also made a generous offer of some of her cooking equipment to the College so I forwarded it on to Greg Smith the Principal of Gloucestershire College and to Philip Jackson of the Catering Academy.

Working on Madge’s commission.

Thursday 4.6.09

It’s polling day, both local county council and European parliament elections. We go down early afternoon and are amazed at the number of parties standing for the European election, including the Pensioners Party! some I’ve never heard of and certainly haven’t received information from them to indicate what they stand for or the policies they hold. I’m rather disenchanted with the main parties at the moment so I cast my vote for the Green Party although for the County Council vote I place mine with Ceri Jones who I’d met when he delivered his hand written envelopes and printed letter last week. We meet two or three neighbours down there who are all equally baffled by the long list of candidates for the European parliament. We then go into Cheltenham where Richard buys a new cream jacket to go with his black Levis and the Red Wing boots that he’s strutting about in - they arrived yesterday. He’d bought them on Nathan’s recommendation that they are virtually indestructible.

Back to work on Madge’s painting.

Friday 5.6.09

E mail from Robbie asking if I could present the two prizes that I’m sponsoring in the art department next week. Unfortunately the timing coincides exactly with the AGM of the Friends of Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum which is one of the two events that I have to preside over as President of the Friends. I tell him we can there for about 7.45 but unfortunately won’t be there between 6 and 7 for the actual prize giving.

Continue with Madge’s painting.

Saturday 6.6.09

Good day in the studio with few distractions or disturbances.

R’s gone out to collect a small ‘cello from Meurig that he’s going to prime and create an image upon. He had been given a violin which he’d sanded but as Ruth volunteered to paint one too we let her have it in the hope that they would still have another. Meurig told him that they’d just had one back from Cath Kidston which had been very beautifully covered in CK. wallpaper. Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen’s had also arrived “I like curly music” written on the fingerboard with a flamboyant Bowenesque swirly design drawn onto the white primed background.

Sunday 7.6.09

A day working on all fronts; Madge’s commission; the violins; the Stack’s painting and mixing more paint for the Gloucestershire College commission

Monday 8.6.09

I’m starting to add colour to the GC big painting; it’s a wonderful sensation starting at each of the lower two corners - the car to the right hand and the bricklayer to the left. By the afternoon I’ve used all three primaries in the under painting (of the colours). Am  fascinated by the effect it causes; like a design with almost random pieces of the monochrome pattern picked out in Technicolor.

At about 4 o’clock we drive into Cheltenham as I’m meeting Jacqui ( Geoff’s partner ) who’s come to Cheltenham from Weston for a scan at the hospital - apparently there are only two of these scanners in the whole country. We meet at Café Rouge, Jacqui looking bright and beautiful in her scarlet scarf with similar coloured roses on her jacket. We sit and chat particularly about little Sophia her ten year old daughter who she hopes might come to the National Star College when she’s old enough.

Tuesday 9.6.09

More to the Gloucestershire College commission and some thought to my talk for tomorrow night.

Wednesday 10.6.09

Day mainly spent dealing with correspondence etc. We have a busy evening as we need to be at the AGM of the Friends of Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum before 6. The room’s already almost full. I open the meeting promptly at 6 with a short welcome also thanking people like Sir Michael Angus from whom I took over last September as President and am delighted to see that he’s present this evening; he gave his friendship encouragement and support as President for almost nine years. Afterwards I give my talk “The Trickster and the Evangelist” and chat to the Friends for a while before proposing a toast. Then it’s off to Gloucester to see the Arts and Media Academy’s end of year show at the Cathedral. We are hugely impressed by the work on exhibition - interestingly it seems even better than last year, it’s a very exciting venue in which to show the work; the breathtaking beauty of the Cathedral does not take away from the achievement of the students. Somehow the two seem to enhance one another. We are amazed how sophisticated and cutting edge the students work is - and of such a very high standard. Their photography students have been amongst those at the top nationally. I’m delighted to hear from Jenny Storey that I had met one of the two students who have received my awards when I visited the college to give a talk in April. A very nice young woman who started the Foundation course, then became pregnant  part way through so had to give it up but has now returned as a single parent mum and has worked all the harder. This splendid exhibition is also a reflection of how good the standard of teaching is at the College, the staff are all so wonderfully enthusiastic and dedicated.

Thursday 11.6.09

Henrietta phones early evening to say she’s just had a parents evening at school and I tell her I’ve got a Patrons evening at the Museum. As we arrive we see Margus looking for the entrance as unfortunately it’s all boarded up apart from a small opening where the door is. The dear man has arrived early after travelling all the way down from London after a meeting with William Hague and the Conservatives. It’s been a beautiful day and it is still bright and warm As I’m introducing him to Jane Lillystone a young woman delivers a card for me from Cressida - unfortunately she and Charles aren’t able to make it this evening. We go upstairs to where the drinks and canapés are being served and there’s a big display board of the Museum’s architectural development scheme. It doesn’t seem long before others are beginning to fill the room. I introduce Margus to Bishop Michael, explaining that he has also been ambassador to Sweden and the Vatican. The atmosphere is cordial and it’s soon time for me to give the welcome after which Jane gives a presentation of the plans. Then we’re off on the tour, first to the temporary exhibition space where Sophia gives us a preview of the forthcoming programme over the next two or three years, then into the atrium for Paul McKee to enlighten us on what his role of Development Officer entails; he’s a great Liverpudlian with a huge grin and an earring. He tells us about the sixteen groups of young musicians that he has been involved in working with, the music has been playing in the background and we also see a video of a dance performed by Pittville School  students inspired by the Surrealism Returns exhibition. He gives us all a CD of tracks by the sixteen groups. Then we move through a narrow winding passageway to one of Helen, the Keeper of Collections, stores where she tells us about the vast numbers of specimens they hold and that there are ten universities currently working with parts of the collection including one in Australia. It makes you realise how essential and important it is that museums house these ancient items (12,000 - 14,000 different fossils). She warns us not to touch any of the specimens on the storage shelves as some of the arrows might still have poison on their heads. We then wander up through the galleries to the picture store above the doors of which hang Richard’s two panoramic views of Cheltenham. Helen has particularly laid out a few of the works she thinks would be especially interesting and I also ask if she can put Carel Weight’s ‘Uncle Percy’ there as he taught a whole school of painters at the Royal College including David Hockney and Peter Blake. She’s extremely worried about making sure that the picture store is locked, which makes me realise what a huge responsibility it must be to be Keeper of the Collections. Onwards we go past the Oriental Gallery; I point out Barbara Gay’s porcelain tableaux inspired by the Lion and the Unicorn tapestries in Musée Cluny in Paris. Then on up to the children's play area where Fay Little tells us about her work with children and families and how the items in the play area all relate to things in the Museum, including my painting ‘Portrait of the Artist watching her two children grow’ which hangs in that space; after this she moves across to the Stanley Spencer and tells us how she gets the children to look at the stances of the figure to discover what they convey, although doesn’t necessarily mention to them that one is his mistress and another his wife and that the small figure in the centre who looks like a boy is in fact a self portrait. We then go on through looking at other paintings she has mention en route, to the Arts & Crafts Collection, where Kirsty the Arts & Crafts expert takes over, here we look at the Ashbee piano and at the Edward Barnsley table and sideboard, finishing off with the William Simmonds puppet of horse and cart. Then its back down to the atrium for a strawberry and chocolate brownie on the way out. We walk Margus back to his car where his driver is waiting to return him to London and are back home by 9.

Friday 12.6.09   

Adding more colour to the big GC painting during the day; I really like working on this scale and proportions. R’s making short pieces of film for the web site. In the evening we go to Jenny and Douglas Ogle’s for supper and are delighted to see Andrew and Sheila North there and another of their friends. Discussion varies from travel to chair design as Douglas and Jenny have quite a wide range of them including a Mies van de Rohe which Douglas says once you sit in is very difficult to get out of. Richard wondered if it was still good design if it’s uncomfortable and difficult to get out of but Douglas who trained as an architect said it was good design nonetheless. The meal is wonderful - Jenny has gone to great lengths. The piéce de resistance is the amazing bowl made of ice that contains her home made ice cream; inlaid in the ice were leaves, the whole thing an exquisite feat of ice engineering.

Saturday 13.6.09

E-mail from Alan at the Loch Gallery in Toronto giving dates for the Toronto International Art  Fair in October and asking if I will have some work for them.

Madge’s painting absorbs the day.

Sunday 14.6.09

Day divided between the two violins and viola, refining details. The difficulty has been letting the oil paint dry enough between workings  so as not to pull it back off on my fingers whilst painting the sides, back and front. Then continue with Madge’s commission long into the evening.

Monday 15.6.09

R makes  more film of me working on the Gloucestershire College commission whilst I’m adding  more colour. At 3 o’clock we set out for Winchcombe via Cleeve School where I drop off a pile of the paper violins that Meurig, the director of the Cheltenham International Music Festival has had printed for people to decorate or paint. Yesterday I gave two to my Mum with a box of water-colours and a couple of brushes. It’s our dear friend Ronald’s birthday and Lyn has invited us for tea and cakes - and what an array of cakes they are. A domed chocolate marble cake, a beautiful Moroccan orange cake which uses a whole cooked orange in the recipe; shell shaped madeleins; a chocolate roulade filled with raspberries; a wonderful carrot cake. We meet Ann and Peter Liver who bought my little painting Pantomime Horse and later a young man called Sam Pickles who recognises me from when I opened the new school building at Cleeve School. He’s recently finished the last of his 13 GCSEs and now has 11 weeks off. We discuss Cleeve and how very good it has become under the headship of Alan McConaghie who last week won ‘top head teacher’ in the West of England. Andrew North had been telling me on Friday evening that Alan had developed a scheme for working with you people who have been excluded.

When we return I work on the Stack’s commission

Tuesday 16.6.09

I had about 30 students coming from the University of the Third Age to visit the studio and for me to give an informal talk. They are a lovely group and I am again led by them in the talking; they ask such pertinent questions and it is easy to follow through. After we’ve looked at my main studio I invite them for tea and some of Richard’s freshly made rock cakes. I’m delighted to meet one of them who really looked quite familiar and who eventually says “you don’t recognise me do you?”I had recognised him but couldn’t quite recall from where - he’s Ken Smith who taught Henrietta Russian at school.

Shortly after I’ve cleared the mugs and whilst R is collecting a big white van, Sue and Brian Stack arrive to see their painting.

The big white van is to transport the large number of huge black plastic pipes (that a normally used for underground drainage) that we have been storing in my studio garden, the vegetable garden and the large shed, originally used in the film Nathan made at Pinewood four years ago. He wants them for a music video he’s working on. We’re really rather excited as it will give us back some garden and shed space and we won;t look quite as much like a construction company although I had toyed with making an elephant installation with them!! So R and I spend the evening loading the into the van although I’m not quite so much loading as dragging a few of the smaller ones to the top of my studio garden steps for R to carry to the van. When we speak to him later, Nathan decides he would also like the large white polystyrene polar bear he’d made.

Wednesday 17.6.09

R sets off for his day as a trucker whilst I’m working on a painting for Suzanne Godfrey - as well as receiving another e mail from her last night her husband also called.

When R arrives the film studios with all the pipes Nathan and his team are all working away quietly creating a magical set.

Thursday 18.6.09

Work in both studios on all fronts.

Friday 19.6.09

R delivers the painting to the Stacks after having it photographed at The Darkroom. I’m working on the painting for Suzanne Godfrey.

Phone call from Alan McConaghie, head of Cleeve School. He’s just been in to see Martin Horwood, MP for Cheltenham re an idea he has for fund-raising towards the new architectural extension at the Museum and would like to fix a date for the three of us to meet to discuss it further. Later I get a call from his PA who has been liaising with Martin Howood’s PAs in London and Cheltenham.

Saturday 20.6.09

Meurig Bowen the director of the music festival comes to the studio with Rachel and his photographer friend James, to photograph the string quartets it is fascinating to see how others artists have implanted their personalities on these now redundant instruments. In the evening Jane and David come to supper we haven't seen them since last year - they have been back to Australia in-between so there is a lot to catch up on.

Sunday 21.6.09

During the afternoon we  drive down to Bristol to Martin Kiszko, our composer friend’s house warming party where we are delighted to meet his two lovely daughters. Seraphina who is nineteen is studying drama at university in Birmingham. The highlight of our visit is when she sings with Martin accompanying her on the piano; she has a beautiful voice. Martin also plays us a study piece he wrote on Thursday evening and another recent work written for a lady he had a ‘tragic’ relationship with; I say how lucky she is to have had this wonderful music written for her. Then its back home and returning to the studio.

Monday 22.6.09

Call from Margaret, Alan McConaghie’s PA, to say she has managed to arrange a date on which both Alan and Martin Horwood MP can make supper and would like to accept my invitation to come here.

Working on the Gloucestershire College painting.

Phone call from Lucy Parford of Weekend Magazine to do a telephone interview about the Painted Quartets for Cheltenham International Music Festival.

During the evening work on Madge Abbott’s commission and also Amer Baig’s

Tuesday 23.6.09

Day spent painting the Gloucestershire College commission. Continue with Amer Baig’s before supper and Madge’s after.

Oh dear, I now have a dilemma. Have just spoken to Nathan on the telephone to discover that his exhibition in London opens on the same evening as the planned supper with Alan and Martin Horwood and as I missed his last opening due to a virus I would feel really bad if I couldn’t make this one.

Wednesday 24.6.09

Phone Margaret, Alan’s PA, who is perfectly calm and says not to worry, she will reschedule, which she miraculously does by the afternoon. Richard takes her call as the photographer from Weekend Magazine is in the process of taking photographs of me with the painted string quartet.

Thursday 25.6.09

Lovely e mail from Greg Smith re the borrowed paintings and the commission. I also complement him on the stunning exhibition of the Arts and Media Academy students’ work at Gloucester Cathedral. I tell him I am actually working on the painting at that very moment and dictating the e mail.

Friday 26.6.09

We are up at 5.30 am to drive up to London to collect Isaac and take him to his sports day arriving at just after 10 am as Henrietta had hoped. He looks beautiful in his red peaked cap and polo shirt. On arrival at the sports field we meet two of his little friends, Frank with his father Johnnie and Jonathan with his Mum Libby, little brother Thomas and Grandma. We are amazed at how well behaved these little boys, not yet quite three and a half, are. The highlight is the egg and spoon race where Isaac tells me he “runned slow” so as not to drop his egg. There’s also a sprint and an obstacle and bean bag race. Pimms and Madeira cake  is being served for the adults and picnic bags for the children but Isaac has his eye on the Madeira cake which he eats with great relish. Then it’s home to join Samuel and relieve Marina, their shared nanny, who takes her other two charges Oscar and Daisy with her. Samuel’s asleep so we are still able to concentrate on Isaac.

After Henrietta’s back and we’ve been for a walk we go over to Ruth’s parents house near Epping Forest where she has been working on her violin for the Music Festival. It’s beautifully painted and based on the story that after his death two phrenologists took Haydn's  head for examination to try and find the source of his Genius. Apparently head and body were not reunited for another 140 years. On her painted violin Ruth has added 'Musicality' to the violin's fingerboard. She listened to the 'Surprise' symphony whilst working on it. After a piece of her father’s delicious fruitcake and a cup of tea we set out through Epping Forest and a beautiful sunset on our way home. Henrietta, Kev and the boys who are coming for the weekend arrive back before us and are already in bed when we get there.

Saturday 27.6.09

The Weekend Mgazine has been very generous with it coverage of the Painted Quartets exhibition, particularly looking at my four instruments and interview with me by Lucy Parford.

The weather’s glorious so Richard’s able to inflate the new paddling pool we got for the little boys. Isaac loves it but he also likes leaping through the water of the hose pipe; Samuel’s slightly more cautious and keeps climbing in and out and doesn’t like it if I let Isaac have a turn with the hose pipe when he’s supposed to be either filling the pool or watering the fruit trees but sometimes catches Samuel in its colds spray.

In the afternoon we take them down for the traditional trip to the shoe shop to have their feet measured and new shoes. H and K have gone for a run.

Nice supper in the evening

Sunday 28.6.09

The reason that H, K, I and S have come back is that it’s my birthday and I can’t think of a nicer way to spend it than being surrounded by family. They have all helped with icing the birthday cakes and outside the back door I find four beautiful fruit bushes and a pretty pink Impatients from the boys. Isaac paints one of the paper violins for me and also does a lot more watering of plants. We have sandwiches and birthday cakes in the afternoon so the boys can be part of it and a meal in the evening when they are in bed.

Monday 29.6.09

H, K, I and S set out very early to return to London.

Good day in the studio working on the Gloucestershire College commission during the day, Madge’s commission and Amer’s during the evening.

Call from Alan McConaghie to say he’s just had Mark Coote the conservative parliamentary candidate for Cheltenham visiting the new building at the school and has also spoken to him about hosting a fund raising event for the Friends of Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum Fund for the new extension.

E mail from Meurig saying that Ruth’s violin is stunning.

Tuesday 30.6.08

Same working pattern as yesterday.