Over the years and especially during my exhibitions, many people have asked me where my ideas came from and what about their subject matter, sources and points of reference. With this in mind I have added this brief outline to the above subpage of Archived Materials 4.
Kind of Blue 2012/ 2013
My suite of paintings from 2012/13 refer back to earlier works based on my interest in jazz which has in recent years been rekindled. Kind of Blue was a landmark Miles Davis recording, released in 1958, which had become a seminal event in my life and throughout my early years in college and later living in Newport, South Wales. My "Kind of Blue" cycle of paintings uses it, other jazz themes or pays particular 'homage" to important venues in America, i.e. (Connolly's Star Dust Room in Boston, the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, or the Blackhawk, both in California) or an admiration of a particular performance, e.g. Chico Hamilton's "Blue Haze" at the 1958 Newport, Rhode Island, 1958 Jazz Festival or performer (Anita O'Day, Art Pepper, Duke Ellington etc.).
Exotic Songs 2013/2014
The series I called Exotic Songs have a more complex genesis that some of my other works. It began in the 1960's, from my interest in oriental carpets, Persian poetry and four-lined stanzas or quatrains to the Rubáiyát, a poem by Omar Khayyam, and my translation of it by Edward FitzGerald. Also Exoticism was a trend in European art, not unlike Orientalism, whereby artists were motivated by ideas from far distant regions, especially the art and culture of the middle and far east to where I also and drew inspiration from. Exoticism surrounded foreign cultures with mystique and fantasy which owed more to European romantic imagination than to any defining exotica. Also with reference to the set of songs Exotiske sånger by the Swedish composer Sigurd Von Kock (1879-1919) ) after poems by Sigurd Egrell (1881-1937).
Black Orpheus 2014/2015
The Black Orpheus series of paintings, sees my return to a theme which I used in 1973 for my work for The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition. It was suggested by the 1959 romantic tragedy, the film Orfeo Negro, itself an adaptation of the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice which was set in Brazil during the Rio de Janeiro carnival. "Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus" was a disc by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, released in 1962.
Gemini 2016
The title of these works is from the third astrological sign in the zodiac, originating from the constellation of Gemini . As Gemini also represents two different personalities in one you can never be sure which one you will face.
Pastels of Lake Constance 2017
This cycle of work, the Pastels of Lake Constance , is derived from two sources; the first being the Op.96 work of Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933) for organ and my own recollections and memories of our many visits to Bodensee and its surroundings in Baden-Wurttemberg, southern Germany.
Rondos 2017
The idea of Rondos was derived from the musical form in which a section or theme is regularly or sometimes intermittently repeated. Rondos is part of a number of series of paintings in which I have taken their themes from instrumental and vocal musical combinations and forms; Duets, Trios, Quartets and the solo (my paintings under this heading are entitled "A Moment Alone").
Most of my work for the last forty years has been, to use a musical term, theme (compositions) and variations ( modifying "atmospheric envelopes" or emotional elements through changes of colour).
Requiems 2017
My initial starting point for this series was Berlioz's monumental "Grande Messe des Morts" and I was going to illustrate the various sections of the work; Kyrie eleision, Sanctus and Lacrimosa, for example. This idea I abandoned fairly early on and used the all encompassing term Requiem for the whole set of six paintings. Works like the Requiems and the "Invocations" are partially inspired by religion but more importantly by religious music. I find deep and meaningful satisfaction from listening to religious music; whatever the creed: Howells (Anglican), Berlioz, Elgar and Poulenc (Catholic) and Rakhmaninov (Russian Orthodox) and Karg-Elert (Lutheran) for example. Regarding religion, I should be seen as agnostic with Christian leanings like Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gerald Finzi.
Invocations 2018
On reading J.P.Hodin’s biography of Alfred Manessier (1911-1992) and my interest in his numerous visits to Soligny-la-Trappe, a commune in the Orne department in north-western France. It is the location of La Trappe Abbey, where the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance, or Trappists, was founded in 1664, and the Ermita de Luchente in Spain, I started researching the reasons for these regular visits. I found that he was seeking, in these monasteries, for the relationship between life, spirituality and painting with a way of defining the way ahead for his work and life. Already a committed religious painter he felt the need to find a way to produce work full of calm and with a spiritual clarity. My response to this spiritual relationship was to create the series of paintings called Invocations.
With regard to my own work, any sort of “spiritual” content can be traced back to the small series' of Elegies (2013) and Lamentations (2013) paintings. In more recent times I have produced my Misterioso (2017), “Requiem” (2017) and “Invocation" (2018) cycles of paintings illustrating similar qualities and using the same motivation.
Nocturnes 2019
"Night" has always been recurring theme in my paintings, in some form or other, since the early 1960's. Thus, my nocturnes have been either a celebration of night, a feeling of something sinister or foreboding. My cycle of Nocturnes 2019 are no different in their motivation, influences and sources: Music, poetry, sidereal or seasonal events.