Life is still

One of my still life paintings hanging on a wall in Worcestershire. Oil paint on paper – 20″ x 16″

Memories: Renoir, dead birds and rubber gloves, stolen kisses, life, stillness, pouches of Chinese fresh drinking water, broken dreams, lost lovers, onions, sections of discarded fishing nets strewn across the tourist beach, lovers in the darkness groping for the dark, hands first finding spaces, then they find there mark, my father, my ghost, my hopes and dreams, stinking of rotting carcasses [Read More]

Card 1 (The Magician) : How you feel about yourself now » You feel a sense of purpose and the willpower to get things done. Self-empowerment is the key word here. Any new enterprises in love or career show great potential. You feel that you have the ability to think on your feet and, faced with opposition, the appearance of The Magician is an excellent omen of success. Time to believe in your self and go for it!

Interiors: Life has changed, I have lost the familiarity I had of interiors, objects and experiences (but this is actually very liberating).

Card 2 (The Fool) : What you most want at this moment » The cards suggest that what you most want at this time is just to be happy, and you are searching for the one thing that will bring happiness. You want a new start but feel unsure of what you want or where you want to go. Romantically you have mixed feelings regarding another – part of you wants to enter the relationship wholeheartedly, part of you wants to hold back. So if you are in a relationship that empowers you, stay, if not it is time to move on.

People: Support and understanding (love even). Waking up on sofas, stumbling back to my temporary home. Meeting new people who have inspired and have opened my eyes to new (and not so new) things. Love, hope, care, faith, determination…

Card 3 (Wheel Of Fortune) : Your fears » You are in fear of everything turning for the worse for you, perhaps you are experiencing a run of bad luck. You have to trust that most of what we fear never happens and as The Wheel of Fortune turns downwards against you, the wheel will naturally turn upwards again and bring good fortune to you too. This difficult phase will pass.

Brushes Pot

Card 4 (The Hanged Man) : What is going for you » With patience this passive time, this time of feeling in limbo and indecision, will pass. You will know what decisions to make, what or who to let go of and how to move on. Whatever self-sacrifice you have to make you will feel a better and stronger person for sure.

Wistman’s Wood: Wistman’s Wood is a magical place (I visited it with someone special) it is where pitted stone becomes knotted oak and the moss and lichens weld everything seamlessly together. I have found calmness and a really odd inner strength in that place. I’m not that into ‘finding God’ or ‘finding myself’ but it is a place that forces these contemplations and ideas (punching you in your back) into your consciousness, making you wake up and get on with it. The brush pot was given to me as a birthday present from someone who is important to me. The images on the pot, of the wood, are inspirational.

Card 5 (The Emperor) : What is going against you » You may be over ambitious at this time, success may remain just out of your reach for a while. Are you being assertive and positive enough? Or are you using aggressive, bullying tactics to no avail? Do not mis-use your authority or if you have requested help from a strong, successful man don’t let him bully you – he either helps or leaves you to get on with things yourself.

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Card 6 (The Devil) : Outcome » If your previous cards have been positive and your main consideration has been about a relationship then there’s a possibility of commitment, even a proposal of marriage. If this is not the case this a final opportunity for you to change course, because the temptation you are experiencing concerning a relationship, money or materialism or any other kind of addiction won’t lead to a happy ending. If you are feeling low in self-belief and self worth and doubt your abilities, don’t, have more confidence – its not too late to change direction.

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It is a still life

image

Oil paint on paper over canvas May 2014

Further information on this painting can be found here.

Card 1 (Strength) : How you feel about yourself now »
You feel that despite the challenges you have been faced with in the past, present or future, you will find the strength and courage to succeed. Whether you are recovering from ill health, a broken marriage or relationship, or challenges at work, you will find the will power to come out on top. If you are looking to give up any bad habits, such as smoking or drinking for example, this is a good time to do it.

Card 2 (The Emperor) : What you most want at this moment »
The cards suggest that what you most want at this time is success and achievement, and the support and influence of perhaps your father, husband/partner or a man of significance in your life who you believe could help.

Card 3 (The Tower) : Your fears »
You are afraid your world is falling apart, you’re experiencing sudden changes and disruption and you don’t quite know what to do. Perhaps subconsciously you’ve wanted a solution to an issue but didn’t quite expect things to have turned out as they have. Use this change as an opportunity for a new beginning. If you have been planning to move home you will be experiencing setbacks.

Card 4 (Judgement) : What is going for you »
Brand new potential, an opportunity which once given must not be ignored, a new project, decision or relationship that could affect the rest of your life. You will enjoy success and enjoyment for past efforts, events will pick up a pace and the outcome will be quicker than expected.

Card 5 (Wheel Of Fortune) : What is going against you »
A run of bad luck here, perhaps already evident or certainly signs that things are not going your way. The responsibility of important decisions weigh heavy with you where there are choices to make. Trust your intuition, and even if you have to make the painful decision to give up something in order to move on, then have the courage to do it. Trust that The Wheel of Fortune constantly turns and whilst it may be against you at the moment it will in time turn and bring you good fortune.

Card 6 (The Chariot) : Outcome »
Conflicts ending in victory! Keep charging ahead this is a time of change, travel and success if you stay committed to achieving your goals. A journey relating to work is imminent and if you’ve had your eye on that new car it will soon be yours.

Onions, 1881 – 2014 #tarot = #painting

20140513-200009.jpgTarot: The reversed 9 of cups is a signal to go deeper into the painting. Look beyond surface appearances and things that seem like coincidences or accident. What might spirit/the universe/God be trying to tell you? Make a point to deepen – or to begin – your spiritual practice in whatever way you are drawn to do so. There is more to a still life than meets the eye.

I have been inspired to paint, people have excited me and non-verbally encouraged me. I saw a painting by Renoir entitled ‘Onions’ at the Royal academy a few years ago…

Onions, 1881 is a painting of just six plain onions and some garlic and is a remarkable sensuous still life, their papery skins explode with colour and shape, making something from the ordinary magical and interesting. The lack of content and minimal subject matter belies the exuberant and controlled, skillfully executed gem. I wish I had painted it.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Oignons

Pierre-Auguste Renoir – Oignons (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Memories: Renoir, dead birds and rubber gloves, stolen kisses, life, stillness, pouches of Chinese fresh drinking water, broken dreams, lost lovers, onions, sections of discarded fishing nets strewn across the tourist beach, lovers in the darkness groping for the dark, hands first finding spaces, then they find there mark, my father, my ghost, my hopes and dreams, stinking of rotting carcasses [Read More]

I painted the one below this week:

imageParadigm: Clients are always shocked when I suddenly present to them a ‘painting from life’ – I appear to produce slap-dash imagery as my main artistic process, this isn’t because I haven’t mastered the basic fundamental skills of ‘traditional’ painting and drawing because I have and I am more than able to produce paintings in a typical style or pattern of work; a pattern or mode of working, arranged in order to form semantic constructions and express relations(hips) to the real world.

onions

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Any person who calls themselves an #artist should be ashamed of themselves – because they are a #liar.

powerThe only true pursuit for the creative process is the creation of the commodity. There are no such things as art schools, public art and art galleries, they are simply empty vessels containing and perpetuating the (economic) elitist stranglehold on the common man’s freedom to think for himself.

The powerful use art to bludgeon the weak into submission by edifying their wealth with totems and monuments to their self glory. [Read More]

Any person who calls themselves an artist should be ashamed of themselves – because they are a liar.

(Commodity) art is created for and by the wealthy.

Painting has always been dead: Rubber gloves, stolen kisses, pouches of Chinese fresh drinking water, broken dreams, the constant questioning and declassification of what art is and what the content is has lead to this so called crisis in painting (there has always been a crisis in painting) – Painting is dead – the exponents of Conceptual Art tried to destroy the art object but failed – thought and the idea is the object. The primary aims of Conceptual Art in the 1960?s was to carry out a theoretical examination of ‘art’ and through understanding propose ‘concepts as art’, sections of discarded fishing nets strewn across the tourist beach, lovers in the darkness groping for the dark, hands first finding spaces, then they find there mark, my father, my ghost, my hopes and dreams, stinking of rotting carcasses [Read More]

Peter Bright (aka This Window) – homo symbolicum

…to be able to imitate the real world is useful when trying to turn your back on it.

Peter Bright (aka This Window)
Peter Bright (aka This Window)

A degree of pressure can give you the ‘edge’ and help you to effectively perform but excessive stress and worry can reduce your productive output and make it difficult to make the right decisions.

Paradigm: Clients are always shocked when I suddenly present to them a ‘painting from life’ – I appear to produce slap-dash imagery as my main artistic process, this isn’t because I haven’t mastered the basic fundamental skills of ‘traditional’ painting and drawing because I have and I am more than able to produce paintings in a typical style or pattern of work; a pattern or mode of working, arranged in order to form semantic constructions and express relations(hips) to the real world

Artists and teachers have argued for years that to fully understand the processes required in creating non-representational art, a knowledge of basic representational ‘tricks’ is vital – to be able to imitate the real world is useful when trying to turn your back on it.

Memories: Dead birds and rubber gloves, stolen kisses, pouches of Chinese fresh drinking water, broken dreams, sections of discarded fishing nets strewn across the tourist beach, lovers in the darkness groping for the dark, hands first finding spaces, then they find there mark, my father, my ghost, my hopes and dreams, stinking of rotting carcasses [Read More]

The Defeatist: I have never been a true artist. The naked truth is I have been and still am a liar. The pointlessness of producing art for decoration and pleasure is a perverted masturbation fantasy – a process for the deluded mind. Art and its prettiness have no place in any intellectual society – it has no place in a capitalist society …

The only true pursuit for the creative process is the creation of the commodity. There are no such things as art schools, public art and art galleries, they are simply empty vessels containing and perpetuating the (economic) elitist stranglehold on the common man’s freedom to think for himself.

The powerful use art to bludgeon the weak into submission by edifying their wealth with totems and monuments to their self glory.

Any person who calls themselves an artist should be ashamed of themselves – because they are a liar.

There is no such thing as an artist – I am a painter, I create decorations for walls.