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.

 

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.

life enhanced by dark

I delight in the contrast between light and shade.

Early or late in the day the shadows thrown by the sun are always interesting. In this painting ( my third of the common Bindweed ) I have tried to capture the pulsating life flowing through these flowers.

 It is a metaphor for human life too. In times of darkness we need the power of light and are drawn towards it.
Painting size. 40cm x 40cm ( 16" x 16" ) Acrylic on canvas.

My controversial painting

My controversial painting ' Sitting on the Fence ' sold today. Why was it controversial? Because I made ( perhaps naively ) a comment that in the interests of social harmony perhaps rather than fuel division with our speech maybe we should sit on the fence. I was only playfully saying something about the title. Maybe I am a bird brain but I was astonished by the hostile reaction! Even my brother seemed to think I was a Fascist sympathiser! Anyway I hope the buyer enjoys the peace suggested in my painting.

Another Autumn Painting

This second Autumn Painting is broadly the same subject as the previous post but painted in a looser and less detailed way. Some people like this more than the other but by no means all. Art is subjective after all!
Overall frame size 67cm x 57cm Painting size 46cm x 35cm. Substantial white frame with off white mount.

This will appear on my website in due course.

Autumn Memories

Sitting on the Fence

In these contentious times I can't help wondering if political and religious differences are poisoning our humanity. These differences are a dialogue of the deaf. Maybe we should just keep our opinions to ourselves and just peacefully sit on the fence. My acrylic painting titled ' Sitting on the fence '

Where are the Poppies?

I was in Osmotherley North Yorkshire over the New Year and finished this painting. Staying just outside the village in a farm holiday cottage I was asked by the farmers wife if she could have a look at my paintings. I was putting them into my car wrapped in a blanket so I had to unwrap them. She took one glance at this painting and exclaimed " Poppies ". I was delighted, not because she obviously liked it but because there are no Poppies in the painting. This pleased me as my intention was for the viewer to make the subject from what was only an impression.

Feeling Blue?

Usually when someone says " I'm feeling blue " it means they are feeling down, depressed even.

What is the origin of this term? For me feeling grey would be more appropriate or feeling black! If I have been feeling down it seems the colour goes out of my life. So the title of this painting is Feeling Blue to signify the sheer joy and delight flowers evoke in me.

 How can you feel down when confronted with the miracle of a field of flowers, wild and untamed. I am not talking about flowers that have been cut and placed in a vase, lovely though they are they are separated from the life force they represent.
The painting is Acrylic Ink and Acrylic on canvas 20" x 16"