Two Portraits of my Father
John, Oil on Canvas, 24 x 18 inches
John (2015), Oil on Canvas, 24 x 18 inches
Since I’m showing two portraits here, painted 15 years apart, I had thought I might make some reference to Shakespeare’s ‘Seven Ages of Man’ speech from As You Like It, but when I re-read it, I realised that nothing in the speech is very flattering e.g: “The sixth age shifts/Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,/With spectacles on nose and pouch on side/His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide/For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice/Turning again toward childish treble, pipes/And whistles in his sound”. Seems a bit unfair.
Other news:
I recently very much enjoyed talking about my personal take on painting portraits to a breakfast club organised by Obelisk Legal Support Solutions. I would like to describe that in detail in my next post, but in the meantime you can read a summary on the Obelisk blog: http://theattic.london/2015/11/27/whats-in-a-portrait/
Those of you who subscribed to my blog at http://paulwuenscheart.wordpress.com, will notice that I have shifted the location of my blog to my main website. I have moved your subscriptions with it, so when I post you will automatically get a link to this blog address (www.paulwuensche.com) – not to the old one. Thanks again for following me – I hope I can keep this interesting and entertaining.
Unless you are looking at this on a phone, you should see a sidebar on the righthand side with a form for subscribing to my mailing list. Please do sign up if you haven’t already done so.
Finally, I’d very much like to thank my piano teacher Phil Best, for setting up this new website. At some point I would like to do a post about the relationship between music and painting, but in the meantime if you like music and want to feel inspired please take a look at http://philbestmusic.com. Also, I especially recommend Phil’s performances on SoundCloud e.g. Clair de Lune
John in a Blue Dressing-gown, Oil on Canvas, 20 x 16 inches
Nadia
Nadia, Oil on Canvas, 20 x 16 inches
Nadia, Oil on Canvas, 20 x 16 inches
Cyclamen
Cyclamen, Oil on Canvas
Cyclamen, Oil on Canvas, 20 x 16 inches
Devon
Hartland Quay, Oil on Canvas, 20 x 24 inches
Spent another 10 days in Devon with the Old Street group, exploring Dartmoor and the North Devon coast.
Hartland Point, Oil on Canvas, 12 x 12 inches
We didn’t have great weather this time, even though it was July. However, I found a place where you can paint even when it’s raining. The Two Bridges Hotel in Dartmoor, a charming old family-run hotel, that has hosted among other people, the actress Vivien Leigh, has a gazebo next to a stone bridge that forms part of its driveway. This allowed me to work on this painting for a good two and a half hours without getting wet:
The Bridge at the Two Bridges Hotel, Oil on Canvas, 20 x 24 inches
We did find one more place to paint under shelter: the beach at Welcombe has caves in the cliff face. If you’re an artist and you’re seeking to increase the value of your stock by dying an early and romantic death, this is a good place to set up your easel: while you’re busy establishing exactly the right shade of rose-tinted grey, the tide will come roaring in and swallow you up:
Surfer, Welcombe mouth
Welcombe Mouth Beach, Oil on Canvas, 18 x 24 inches
The figure in the middle is not in fact an artist fighting off the waves with his palette, he is a German surfer and travelling fire-throwing/swallowing (artist), the kind of person you often bump into in North Devon.
Lastly, during a brief interlude in the British July rainy season, I painted this sitting on the dunes at Bude beach:
Bude, Oil on canvas, 18 x 12 inches
Bude beach, Oil on Canvas, 16 x 20 inches
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