Today's study features the ski slope in Kvisthamrabacken. It is the same area where we have been to chase the blossoms on many occasions and to tell the truth the slope itself has never occurred to us as a subject really but we were hit by it and particularly by the chance to have a go at a colour effect. In the end we dampened our colours so any progress in the way of colour has been sacrificed in the name of tone but we did feel a little nudge in the right direction. The reason we chose this view is squarely down to the effect of the slope in shadow as the sun rises behind it. We saw a blue hill and a yellow sky and lashed it on in a race with sun which did indeed peep its happy self over the ridge in the final stages.
We managed to find a tube of winton white in a draw of paint reserved for my daughters when ever the fancy might take them to raise a brush. Winton is what is referred to a student quality paint meaning not very good, and we were mixing it with our artists quality jacksons. Is there a danger in mixing like that? Could they become unstable? We are not so much concerned that they last a hundred years, more that they do not suddenly turn pink like our view of the fire station in Torpoint. Anyway that winton will allow us a few more of these smaller sizes which are between a French 10 and 12 but we'll now need to have our hand down the back of the sofa.1
There is an exhibition of Van Gogh's self portraits in the Courtauld this year and a monstrous Cezanne show at Tate Modern in the Autumn. At the Tate we will apparently witness "an artist wrestling with what it means to be a modern painter while remaining deeply skeptical about the world he lived in, from political unrest to a continually accelerating way of life." Check. And at the Courtauld they announce that "the myth of Van Gogh today is linked as much to his extraordinary life as it is to his stunning paintings. This exhibition will allow both aspects to be explored." Indeed, and once again we shall be unable to separate the two and I am sure we will not be alone in sensing the aura of that framing infusing us as we take in his lashed on statements, should we be lucky enough to see them that is. Banks all over both shows naturally but we admitted long ago how the lure of red, yellow and blue can rob us of our critical faculties and while that over eggs things we can block the critical sense out long enough to enjoy the show, when it comes to Vince and Paul that is, innocent dead that they are.
So with both hands down the back of all the sofas we sit on,3 perhaps we'll eek out enough for short stop over in London, but we'll be done and dusted by then.3
It was apparently minus 13 when we took the study, or so a good old fellow told us as he staggered past.
A handshake,
John
1. It is not clear what this means.
2- It seems clear that this refers to money.
3. An idiom meaning to have finished. Finished with the season most likely.