Small Kindnesses

I've been thinking about the way, when you walk down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs to let you by. Or how strangers still say bless you when someone sneezes, a leftover from the Bubonic Plague. Don't die, we are saying. And sometimes, when you spill lemons from your grocery bag, someone else will help you pick them up. Mostly we don't want to hurt each other. We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot, and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress to call us dear or darling when she sets down the bowl of soup, and for the driver in the red pick up truck to let us pass. We have so little of each other, now. So far from tribe or fire. Only these brief moments of exchange. What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these fleeting temples we make together when we say, Here, have my seat, Go ahead, you first, I like your hat.

 Is Social Media the New Apple? Nearly all of us use Social Media these days don't we? For most it is a great way to connect with friends and family. However in other ways it is used in a dark and destructive way. In embracing Social Media are we eating a new way to lose our innocence? Just a thought. 

Unicorn. Myth or Reality

 

unicorn

The gap between the unseen and the seen is so small. 

Last leaves, First Snow.

Zen and painting

This painting which I titled " Last leaves, first Snow "

Just happened. It is nothing like the idea I originally had. I feel is was channelled. I slipped into a zen like state.

 

Data Centres

Does anyone feel concern about the proposed massive creation of data centres? Apparently they are needed to fuel the enormous demand caused by AI.

Is this colossal increase in electricity and water going to further damage the planet and the environment? 

Has mankind gone completely mad?

solitude

 

I have returned to this blog after a number of years. I don't know if anyone will read it, especially with the proliferation of social media. However, if anyone does, do let me know.

This painting is oil on stretched canvas over a chunky frame. The sides are painted neatly in grey and it is ready to hang. It is 40cm x 40cm. more details on my website, 

www.chrisgauntartist.co.uk 

 Art is very subjective. Ask anyone what they like in a painting and some will say they like paintings which depict the subject as closely as possible, perhaps like a photograph. Some others prefer something looser and more interpretive. Painting is like poetry and photography is like prose. This new painting is called " Holkham Dunes and Pines " and I try, and maybe fail, to capture the feel rather than what is actually there. It's so important to immerse ourselves in nature …

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Sea Lavender in Norfolk

In Norfolk where I live now the salt marshes blaze with purple in August. The Sea Lavender ( Limonium carolinianum ) transforms the marshes in the same way Heather does in Scotland and the North York Moors. I miss the hills and mountains of Northern England and Scotland but the salt marshes on the Norfolk coast are quite special too. With it's tidal creeks and old boats it is a magnet for artists and bird watchers.This painting was inspired by the Sea Lavender. It was started last year but I have just finished it in anticipation of this years flowering. Acrylic on paper.

Purple Mists

Mist clings like lovers parting words

The old houses emerge weather worn

Branches of trees reach this way, and that

Forever entwined in windless fantasy


Painting acrylic ink and acrylic on canvas
Fragment of poetry by the fantastic Scottish poet
Eileen Carney Hulme ( adjusted slightly to fit my painting )

Silent Stalker

Silently stalking.

Tai chi movements.

 Meditating on fish.

Acrylic on canvas.

Plockton Scotland and Shakespeare

I went to see a wonderful interpretation of Julius Caesar by the Bridge Theatre last night. Today I painted Plockton on the west coast of Scotland. The only connection is that Plockton is on Loch Carron which is tidal. This reminded me of the famous line from Brutus which has always had significance in my life. " There is a tide in the affairs of man, which if taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea we are now afloat, and we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures." There have been many such tides in my life! If we are honest we have all faced choices in life which required courage. In these circumstances it is wise to be brave and take a risk rather than sinking into ' what if ' regret. Plockton is very special to me.Painting on canvas in acrylic ink and acrylic.

Channeling

Did I channel this? This painting turned out completely different to the preconceived idea I set out to paint. I was complaining in a previous post that I had temporarily lost my artistic direction but this one feels a better energy. This one felt as though something was working through me. When that happens it is wonderful. I now feel excited and have started three new paintings. This one is acrylic ink and acrylic paint on canvas.

The space between inspiration

The space between inspiration. When my elder brother was a young boy ( before he went to art collage and became an accomplished artist ) he painted a painting of a track through a wood. My mother loved this painting and it was proudly displayed on the wall for years. My brother hated it! He thought it was awful. However there was something special about it.Now I have just realised that when my artist direction is lost I fill in time with a similar subject. This painting is one of several I have done on this theme. Sometimes the season changes or the figures change or disappear but they are broadly the same. I wonder what my next inspirational theme will be? This painting is acrylic on canvas board..

Is Social Media the New Apple?

Is Social Media the New Apple? Nearly all of us use Social Media these days don't we? For most it is a great way to connect with friends and family. However in other ways it is used in a dark and destructive way. In embracing Social Media are we eating a new way to lose our innocence? Just a thought. Painting available.

Autumn Cottage Revisited

This is a reworking of a painting I did a couple of years ago while staying at my brothers house in France. Is it better than the original? Maybe, maybe not, but as always when painting the same subject it takes a different form and then becomes a completely new painting. Acrylic Ink and Acrylic on canvas board.

Buachaille Etive Mor with Black Rock Cottage.

I Just got back from an amazing couple of weeks in " The Lake District " 

This painting is actually of Scotland but I was inspired to paint it by the magnificent Lakeland Mountains.

 It is Black Rock Cottage with Buachaille Etive Mor ( the herdsman of Etive ) in the background.

The Buachaille stands at the head of Glencoe.

Fire Fiesta San Bartolome de Pinares, Spain

This is my painting of a horse being ridden through bonfires at Las Luminarias festival in San Bartolome de Pinares, Spain. In honour of Saint Anthony the Abbot, patron saint of animals. horses are ridden through bonfires on the night before the official day of honouring animals in Spain. The tradition, which is hundreds of years old, is meant to purify and protect the horse throughout the coming year and dates back to the great plague. The horse tail is bound to prevent it catching fire. The painting is Acrylic Ink and acrylic.

Forget Macdonalds

BURGERS AT THE BEACH in Happisburgh Norfolk sells the most mouth watering burgers I have ever tasted. Choice of three, steak, crab or veggie, all delicious. Owners Andrew and Jo Jo are most delightful and welcoming. Also very interesting. They gave up ' normal ' jobs to run this great little cafe and after the season leave in their camper van to over winter in Portugal along with their dog To To. My good friend Bryan also has a camper van and lives in Portugal. That's him in the last photo and he gave this lovely couple his address in Portugal and is hoping for a visit next winter. If you are on holiday in Norfolk be sure to try one of these amazing burgers

A New Insect!

 What is this amazing insect? Any ideas anyone? I was sitting peacefully fishing when I felt something on my bare leg. It didn't want to release my leg but I managed to ease it off onto my fishing towel. Seems harmless as it didn't bite and it was released unharmed as was the beautiful carp I caught too. But what was the insect? I have never seen anything like it before.

Her name is Socks

This is Jo's dog. She is called Socks because all four feet are white. However she has had an operation on her front paws and now has these very fetching red socks to protect the wounds. Not at all sorry for herself as she is being spoiled rotten!