Above is the drawing I have been doing all week and last night I finally got it finished and I am very pleased with the way it turned out. I start afresh tonight with a black page.
Today I had to go up to the sorting office to pick up a parcel and on the way back down to a this pic looking over towards St Johns In The Field.
It is funny what catches my eye, I find things that have influenced my drawing and these holly berries are certainly akin to some of my dot drawings.
Back down on the Higher Stennack on my journey home I went past the world famous Leach Pottery. I remember my Dad driving us passed this pottery many times when I was on holiday as a kid during the 60's and 70's. I also remember visiting and have a vague memory of my parents meeting and talking with Bernard Leach. My Mum loved the glazes but little did I know then that I would end up living down the road and I would know some of the current potters too. How life turns out.
A while ago I remember seeing a BBC documentary called The Art Of Cornwall and one scene really came to mind as I passed 'The Leach' was a black and white shot of this building with a Morris Minor driving passed and it looked like it was in the country, it certainly isn't now. If you have never viewed this documentary it is a worthy insight into Cornwall and mainly St Ives and it's art history and a subject I have been very fascinated with for such a part of my life.
When my parents first brought me to Cornwall in 1965 it was the first proper holiday I had been on. Going to Cornwall then traveling from Manchester felt like it must have for others like going abroad, it had its own words and St Piran's Flag and the place was so lush, there were lots of wild life and plants I had never seen before. Many things I discovered in the first hours and first day of arrival, there were lizards, grasshoppers, crickets, slow worms and adders and so many strange plants that I have got so used to seeing in the, last seven or so years from palm trees to gunnera to thrift. I loved the ruggedness, the archeology and it rawness and wonderful beaches. I remember the feeling creeping up on me even as a nearly 6 year old I didn't want the holiday to finish I wanted to be here and I have such a strong memory of having such a wonderful time and never wanting to leave. Coming back many times over the years when my parents could afford it I got introduced to ceramics from Leach to Leaper and then I got exposed to art in galleries from Michael Praed to more abstract work in The Penwith Gallery, which I now guess I saw work by Patrick Heron, Terry Frost, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and many others. I sucked it all in and slowly over the years and decades of growing up and the becoming an artist rather than a seeker of my own creativity.
Since then I have been in to see Carl at the BID office and then shopping then home and some website work, written this blog.
Below are a few of my contributions to the 'Your Face My Art' contemporary portrait studio events, we are putting a few on over the festive holiday and I have to find some more pieces of suitable sea pottery shards so I have enough ready to go.
I am now ready to get on with some drawing and to get some deep thinking done on how I am going to get 2 works ready handing in for the Christmas exhibition at The Mariners Gallery with The Society Of St Ives Artists.
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