Matisse in the Studio at the RA

 Matisse 'Rocaille Chair' 1936  

Making  the most of my   day in London after 'Drawing Tuesday' in Regent's Park, I'd booked 2.45 slot for 'Matisse in the Studio' at the Royal Academy . It had parallels  with the  glorious ' Matisse, his art and Textiles' exhibition held in the  same gallery in 2005 ( more than 10 years ago, it doesn't feel like that). I've spent this morning going through the book again, when I should I have been doing something else, reminding myself of the ' Haiti's' that are a feature of this exhibition too.

 The juxtaposition  of some of his favourite objects  with the paintings and sculptures  they inspired or   featured in  was fascinating ( I covet his green glass vase)  

I bought a copy of the ' Introduction to the exhibition for Teachers and Students'  which  explored  key pieces in  depth , asking  questions  that make you think such as ' What is the difference between a mask and a portrait? Using this  as  a guide and  using   exercises  from ' Advanced Painting '  and 'Ways into Abstract Painting' gallery visits, I  took notes and made quick sketches   which have given  me  food for thought , particularly in composition and paint application ( I'm thinking of returning to oils for 'Contemporary Painting Studio' course   at City lit ). Also reminded me how much I like drawing pewter!  

Matisse 'Large Red Interior' 1948

 It was good too to  be reminded of his  paintings of interiors.  I first  visited the   Centre  Pompidou in Paris in the late 1980's  on a work trip   stopping off between Rilland and Amiens. I was blown away by the artwork  particularly  'Florentine Villas'   by Paul Klee  and 'Large Red Interior ' by Matisse and bought large posters of both.   These  posters combined with  kelims bought on trips to Turkey and  Morroco  were what made various small  rooms in shared houses and   my first purchased   flats  ' home' . In my tiny studio  flat, the Matisse print gave the illusion of additional  rooms and enlarged the space. Alas  the poster  got water damaged   when in storage between moves  but  the kelims are still in use.  

Paul Nash at Tate Britain

 Another Friday, another exhibition, this time Paul Nash at Tate Britain . It was great to see so much of his work altogether  and see the progression of  ideas  along with repeated imagery. I'm so used to  paying homage to  favourite individual paintings , like the 'Winter Sea' (above)  I visit every time I'm in York and 'The Shore' (below)  in Leeds so it was interesting to see them in context.

The 'Dymchurch' painting drawings and prints  that informed my ' Bexhill Breakwaters' quilt continue to inspire

 It was great to see some of his lesser- known photographs - I've got a  large number of shots of breakwaters and sea defenses too!

 I'm not usually a big fan of  surreal works  but seeing how he used scaled up  objects that had meaning for him set against the landscape  has given me ideas of how I might  combine my ' small treasure' drawings  with seascapes

  I've seen this painting ' A nest of stones' recently at Margate  - it was good to see it  in different company. It features in the frontispiece of my favourite art book  ' The Experience of Landscape' . I've had  it for over 20 years but still find new things  to enjoy  among the combination of  artworks and poetry.   

My journey from the Tate to City lit by bus was fun , on the top deck of a double -decker going via the Houses of Parliament and Trafalgar Square, some interesting details at roof level along the ministries on Whitehall .
In the  Advanced Painting class   we were looking at colour strategies - limited palette ( eg complimentaries, monochromatic, analagous )  and colour inventories.  Enough exercises to keep me happy for months, I love mixing paints.

 This Picasso ' 2 women sitting at  the bar' is  another one of my favourite paintings. , I love the shapes and colours. I once saw it in an exhibition  when I was abroad somewhere, paying a fortune for entry so I could spend 20 minutes absorbing it.

 Many in the class chose to carry out an inventory of a painting, placing squares of colour like  Paul Klee's paintings

 I chose instead to  try and mix the colours found in this photo of 2 boats

  The squares did remind me how useful the 'pixelate, mosaic' filter is in Photoshop as an aid to simplification and identifying the colours

And while I was in Photoshop, I had a go at combining the stack of limpets  collected at Margate  overlaid on the  canvas I painted in Weymouth which I'm thinking of using as the basis for further experiments. Definite possibilities

Making Visible

 I've  long been an admirer of the work of Paul Klee, this stitched silk painting from the 1990's of 'Florentine Villas'  being an early example of textiles  influenced by his work  ( I saw this  painting in the Pompidou  in 1980's and for a long time had the poster on my wall ). So the current exhibition at Tate Modern was unmissable - I went last night after work ( late night opening on Fridays). I debated whether to buy the catalogue in advance - after all I have 6 books of his work  but guess what , I succumbed! The approach was very different from the Hayward exhibition in 2002  being chronological  which   gave an insight to how series developed. Also I've moved on in those  12 years and my tastes have changed a little although I've still a soft spot for the patterns of  'Pastorale' and Structural II 1924 126 (below)

While I was disappointed there weren't any of the Tunisian watercolours I love, there was a lot that was new to me, like the wonderful lively marks in 'looking out of a cave'  1929 281. And with using a lot of red in my own work recently , I was more aware of how he's used that colour as a focal point.

 What really grabbed my attention however was the luminosity of the works  from 1932 using a form of pointillism with form given with  watercolour washes laid partially over the top. I loved  'Lowlands'  1932 9' reminiscent of the subtlety of the mudflats I've  taken so many  photos of!

 The  emerging form of a bird in the next picture to it (below)  reminded me of the egrets at the Chesil Beach visitor centre

 I think it was partially the marks that attracted me. One of the highlights of the Australia exhibition at the RA was a linocut  by GW Bot ' Gethsemane' on tapa cloth, so much so I bought a lino printing press with the intention of replicating my stitch marks  in a similar way.

But in the meantime, as a form of more instant gratification, I've been using pens to make 'stitch' marks on an offcut of a quilt painted with  acrylics and gesso.