Today I painted my first for the Torpoint Art Service and I’m pleased to say that things went rather better than expected. Although of course you must bear in mind it is my first attempt and meant only as a study I’m certain you will be able to see some promise for the campaign ahead. I had intended to wander off behind the boat yard and through the military wives quarters1 for a view of St. Johns Lake but the tide this morning took us all by surprise and I had to settle for a view of mount Edgecombe from Chapeldown beach. We knew it was a spring tide and likely to be very high, pushed by the days of strong wind and low pressure, but this one rose up an extra meter at least and there was no way of alighting from the Olympic as the yard was at least half a meter under water and my gang ramp too steep. I’m just grateful that the power stayed on this time2 or I would have surely had to cancel. 

The elements however were still to play their part, blowing strong winds and swirling gusts right onto the beach. I was able to manage only by forcing the legs of the easel deep into the sand and securing the canvas with a plat of heavy seaweed. Painting in the wind wasn’t particularly pleasant but it did focus the mind on the task, leaving little room for contemplation. No time to think or even mix the paint much. I had the thing done in three quarters of an hour. The view shows the silhouetted trees of Mount Edgecombe with a flash of muted green in the distance and on the left is the new builds on the old slipway planted mid-distance. The entire foreground shows the still high tide rolling in with strokes of grey green and blue over the crimson ground. The sky a mashup composition of the rapidly moving storm clouds, brought out with final touches of white and deep blue. 

I believe that it is a promising start but not by any means a cause for celebration. When all is said and done the study is an attempt to capture the view, the paint applied rather plainly and descriptively and not at all as vigorous and varied as I want it to be.  And as I look at it now and remembering the experience of painting it gives rise to so many questions about how to proceed. The rapid study turned out how it did but is that what is needed? What is it that you need? Painting without pause for thought might be the way to execute but what is the underlying aesthetic programme? We must create one but not an original one though (even if such a thing were possible), as I understand it we want to escape that logic3. My aim is to develop a humble method for balancing autonomy of painted colour and motif with a representation of what is there and most crucially for the project, to somehow encourage a new political reading of this relationship.  This first work has for sure highlighted some of the technical problems I will need to tackle with regards to the practice of plein air painting. However I will always be spurred on when imagining the rewards to be reaped if by some miracle we are able to apply this revisiting of a late nineteenth century artistic problem4 to our desire for an artistic break from the permanent present of today and the contemporary stasis which lets us forget so much. To make progress down this road will surely lead to new ways of doing.5

 

                                            Yours in good spirits,

                                               

                                                                                                       John

 

  

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1 John's boat is moored at Huggins Marina situated just a few meters from the naval training base HMS Raleigh. 

 

2 Extremely high tides often cause power cuts in Carbeile Wharf as the yard becomes flooded and water comes into contact with the power cables. 

 

3 Here John is referring to escaping the cycle of critique and recuperation which is commonly thought to be counterproductive. 

 

4 Artists at this time were dealing with the problem of trying to find ways to represent reality whilst not resulting to imitation. Paul Cezanne's famous saying that he is      trying to create "harmony in parallel with nature" sums this up well. 

 

5 This is likely to refer to John Holloway's writing regarding the need to create new forms of 'doing' in resistance to capitalism.