The Still Life Continues

I was sitting listening to Beethoven and working on the still life (on a Friday night?? Yes, desperate times call for desperate measures!) and I started thinking about the Pre Raphaelite brotherhood. Oh my goodness I haven't thought about them in years. The movement was a result of Realism and was a romantic idealistic art movement that was short lived with very few followers. John Everett Millais was the artist I was thinking of. His painting called Ophelia captivated me from the moment I first saw the image. Of course, I've been told that when you see the works in real life your responses are completely different - but not having had that experience, I have to go with what I know and that is how I absolutely adored this movement and idolised Millais. Which is really rather ironic since my style bears no resemblance or slightest traces of influence. I remember seeing the whole process he undertook to complete this work. His model lay in a bath tub suspended above stacks of candles which were supposed to heat the water for the poor model. I can't imagine this job did much for her health! To model in a draughty artist's studio is one thing, to do so in 19thC clothing in icy water attempting to immitate tepid temperatures is quite another! In my first year of studies we had a model who arrived in a turqoise hoody. By the end of the painting, she swore blind that although the hoodie had been one of her favourites, she never wanted to see the thing ever again. I can only imagine Millais' model must have felt a million times more adamant about her outfit.
Another of my absolute favourites is Hans Holbein the Younger. Look at his painting The French Ambassadors and see if you can spot the skull. I was at school when I was first introduced to him. I was in awe of Holbein's ability to produce such richly textured paintings with fabric that was almost tactile.
Manet is also one of my favourites. I loved the way he mocked the snobbery of the Salon and their rules of what constituted acceptable art. As a student, I was fed up with seeing women draped on couches, in half naked subservient poses, so I produced a life size oil of a man in a pair of jeans lying on a couch in the same pose. It was my tongue in cheek response to what we were being subjected to. Sadly my entire portfolio from Technikon was turfed out by a very well meaning cleaning lady... I think I cried for 2 days over that.
So, enough procrastinating, let me finish the still life!

Still Life

I think I bought flowers that have been fed some sort of steroid! They've lasted beautifully for almost 2 weeks - I can't believe they're still in tact. At least it's given me an opportunity to complete the still life. I've come up with another idea so I'll block that in really quickly before they wilt on me.
I was thinking about Goya when I considered the whole political environment I spoke about previously. Activist art doesn't really appeal to me and I remember having to study Goya's work and finding it disturbing and hard to look at. I remember reading a quote years ago about being careful not to stare into an abyss for too long because of how it affects you (I'm paraphrasing horribly now - I've probably lost the impact of the quote, but that was the gist of it) and when I look at activist art - it's as though the artist becomes so overwhelmed and burdened by the horrors of war, political corruption or whatever it is, that they become disillusioned with humanity and begin to view the world through tainted cynism. Suddenly, every subject they tackle is plagued with all that is vile in humanity and society.
I suppose on the opposite end of the spectrum you have artists who only ever see the nobility and beauty of humanity.
Yin and yang!
Will post an update of the still life tonight.

Hectic Days

Living in South Africa is really interesting at the moment - there's so much going on, you can't possibly be bored, even if your life might be hitting a rutt or a bit slow, there's always something going on and not just in the country, but locally. The other day all the taxi drivers were striking in protest of the government's plan to improve transport for the world cup soccer. One of the labourers was telling me the taxi drivers were angry because the government was supplying them with these new vehicles which were supposed to be safer than some of the crocs they drive (Some of them are literally held together with wire and masking tape), but they're expensive to run and keep breaking down. So, anyway, the taxi drivers decide that it's not good enough to just strike, and they start shooting at and stoning buses. The local radio station gets a call from a guy in the police and they ask him what the public should do, so he says: "No, they must just be a little bit careful they don't get shot."
I kid you not...
Then a convoy of 6-7 taxi's hits Walmer and - how shall I put it? Harrasses motorists? They drove around wildly for a couple of hours shooting red traffic lights and stop streets and generally driving recklessly endangering lives.
The ANC is losing stacks of people to a new opposition party (As yet unnamed but in the making). And when I say people, I mean prominent members of the ANC. A spokesman for the ANC said this was not unusual, that it had happened before, but I honestly can't remember such prominent members of the party absconding in droves like this. While some people are cheerful and optimistic about the move (There's always been an underlying concern that there is no opposition party to challenge the ANC like Zimbabwe) others are seeing this as a potential disaster. There have been threats made - directed at those leaving the party and this makes a lot of South Africans nervous because it has the feel of a potential civil war. Let's face it - civil war in Africa is pretty damn rough. Anybody seen the movie Blood Diamonds? That's a pretty accurate portrayal of what happens when things go awry in Africa.
So, even if your own life isn't providing you with much to talk about or think about, the surroundings certainly are.

Painting Sizes

I should just mention that all the paintings with the ladies and their South African print clothing and pattern are in the region of 1.2m x 900cm - hence the Sabbatical with an A3 size still life. (A3 +- 60cm x 30cm)

Sabbatical Still Life

Before I continue with my series of large and intricate paintings, I'm fiddling with some floral still life subject matter on a smaller scale. I suppose my style could be either meticulous or obsessive, depending on which angle you take it from! I always make sure that when you look close enough, you see that the patterns aren't perfect. They're very handmade.

This painting came from an idea of making a series of paintings of flowers and material and putting them together on a larger surface to make a quilt out of the paintings - I might still pursue that, but for the time being, this is a little R & R for me.

It's decided!

Thanks to everyone for giving their votes. I'm completely biast in this instance which is why I needed more opinions. My favourite is the seagull painting and while it didn't fit the theme as well as the second painting, I'm going with the gulls! I spent the whole weekend deliberating and finally settled on the gulls. There are still a few elements I want to work on with the other painting - things that will bother me if I don't remedy them, but that others wouldn't notice at all. So, the painting will go off tomorrow, and I'll let you know how the judging goes!
Meanwhile, it's back to the grindstone. I'm planning on taking a break from the series I'm working on and playing around with a still life just for a breather. It's a little like reading "Three Men in a Boat" after reading Dostoyevsky.