1 - Exhibition 2005

The Nottingham Society of Artists' Trust opened their new ground floor gallery at St Luke's House on Friar Lane, near Nottingham Castle, in November 2003.

 I was contacted in February 2003 and invited to exhibit work in  their  inaugural exhibition.  I showed four works which  were to become  part  of the  extended “Lyric Pieces”  cycle.  After attending  the opening, I  was extremely impressed with  the space and  central location, so decided to put  my name forward for an exhibition of my own  paintings.  This eventually took place in September 2005 and was an ideal venue for my first solo showing of work for nearly 28 years.

In the “Lyric Pieces” series of paintings, my objective was to combine, in  an  all-enveloping atmosphere, fragments of  pre-existing geometric forms with natural elements. These elements were then synthesised within a  sensuous, rich, and  harmonious  impressionistic texture. I freely incorporated elements, certain feelings of ambiguity and uncertainty began to appear. These polarized elements taken from the weather and the seasons, fleeting moments and lasting sensations, the past  and present, in search of what Wilfrid Mellers termed 'a paradisal calm'. It is a personal quest for a strange, remote and timeless quality in my painting.

These pictures hovered between figurative and non-figurative traditions and I tried to exploit, more than ever before, the evocative power of mood and atmosphere in these paintings I also found that combining arbitrary and unrelated elements, certain feelings of ambiguity and uncertainty started to appear. These polarized elements, juxtaposed with autobiographical memories and other "Souvenirs" had also the tendency to increase feelings of calm now found in some of my very recent work.

 "Lyric Pieces" was the all-embracing title I gave to three cycles of paintings:-   " Les Îles Immortelles" 2002-2004,  "Barbizon"  (2003-2004) and  "Les Golfes Embuames" (2004-2005 ).  These sets of paintings were included my first showing of works with landscape and other figurative motifs. The Lyric Pieces were then  further extended with the addition of all the Nordic inspired series'

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