I was very pleased to learn that my painting “Woman on Bed” won the Silver Award at the Cancer Feminine Art Prize 2023. An award is always nice, but the cash prize is also much appreciated 🙂 The competition was organised by Purple Octopus Art, who:
“provide a platform for art and expressive writing that addresses human disease and environmental issues”.
I will update this post with more information when Purple Octopus have updated their gallery with this years competition. In the meantime, you can find their website here: purpleoctopusart.com
Update
Their gallery is now live, with a selection of the artworks. Link below:
I’ve been reluctant to write about this painting, for fear of how it will be viewed by potential portrait customers. I haven’t even offered it to any exhibitions. But as you read this, millions of lives have been ruined or lost by a pointless conflict, so who am I to fret over losing a few commissions. So here we go. After finishing my painting Men Wrestling, I still felt compelled to say something about the barbarity and viscousness of events unfolding in Ukraine. It’s too easy to feel detached from it all, viewing it as a spectacle rather than the existential crisis it is. That was exactly what I wanted to convey with Men Wrestling – world leaders looking on as the two naked wrestlers (representing Russia and Ukraine) are embraced in a fight to the death. For my next painting I wanted to show the cruel horror of it all.
Goya – A heroic feat! With dead men!
Goya – The Disasters of War
Los desastres de la guerra is a series of 82 prints created between 1810-1820 by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya (1746–1828). These etchings are viewed as a visual protest against the violence of the 1808 Dos de Mayo Uprising, and the subsequent Peninsular War of 1808–1814. They were not published during the artist’s lifetime; they are considered a graphic representation of the atrocities of war. As such, they were the perfect source material and inspiration for the painting I wanted to create.
Composing the painting
Creating a painting like this is a bit like directing a play. You have your story and actors, and much of the time you are arranging them on the stage to describe a particular scene. Below is a video (apologies for the very bad exposure) where I talk about the painting at quite an early stage. I explain how I saw a certain dignity in the brutalised figures Goya had hanging from trees, with similarities to some depictions of Christ descending from the Cross.
Putin and Prigozhin
From the beginning I wanted the main actors occupying centre stage to be Vladimir Putin and Yevgeny Prigozhin. At the time I painted this, Prigozhin was alive and still a trusted ally of the president, with his Wagner group taking the lead in the assault on Bakhmut. That costly assault gave Russia its only gain since the early days of the war. During this battle, Wagner mercenaries were accused of castrating Ukrainian prisoners (read the story here).
Putin and Prigozhin, when they were friends
This central section also draws some inspiration from The Flaying of Marsyas – a late work by Titian which shows the killing by flaying or skinning alive of Marsyas, a satyr. Marsyas is hung from a tree like a butcher’s carcass, much like the brutalised figures in Goya’s etchings, and also like the captured soldiers in my painting. I wanted to capture something of the inhuman and bestial behaviour of the invading Russian troops; behaviour that most people could not believe would be happening in Europe in the 21st Century.
A picnic at an execution
It took me a while to fill the space in the bottom left. I tried out various figures, but in the end settled for someone having a picnic in front of this awful scene.
woman enjoying a picnic, with blood splatters
I had in mind the wealthy Muscovites dining in their expensive restaurants, thinking themselves isolated from the “special operation” happening in a foreign land; they might see it as their evening entertainment on TV. But they are still tainted by it. As are we all.
I will be exhibiting this painting along with The Gleaners at S. B. Art Gallery in London, from the 27th-29th October
I am absolutely delighted that “Man and Woman” has been shortlisted for the Theo Paphitis LGC Art Prize. Out of 837 submissions, they shortlisted just 11 artworks, so I am feeling extremely grateful that the judges chose my work to be amongst the finalists.
It is a painting that has taken rather a long time for me to finish (I wrote more about the painting and how I recently repainted it here). I have had a troubled relationship with this piece. I started working on it during a time of great loss and pain. It has spent ten years in an unfinished state. I could not work out what was wrong with it, but I suspect unresolved feelings from that time made me feel uncomfortable working on it.
Anyway, it’s finished now, and it’s so encouraging having such a personal piece being endorsed by the judges. Working alone in a studio, it is all too easy to start having doubts about particular paintings and projects. Will people understand them? Will anyone make a connection with my work? So a big thank you to the judges – Kate Brinkworth, Tom Croft, Brian Reed, Jayne Kay, and a special thanks to Theo Paphitis who set up and supports the LGC Art Prize.
Theo Phaphitis presenting winner Tom Mead with his prize
It was a wonderful and quite lavish awards ceremony. Theo Paphitis must be congratulated for hosting this excellent addition to the Arts calendar. Tom Meads was the deserved winner with his painting ‘Stoic’. You can read more about the three different winners here: theopaphitis.com/my-blog What I particularly enjoyed about the judges’ selection was that they chose works that actually followed the theme “connection” – not always the case with themed shows.
Head judge Theo Paphitis in front of my painting
One very nice touch was how, after the awards ceremony, they then gave each artist a goody bag full of art materials. I’ve not seen that in any competitions I’ve been shortlisted for before, and I was incredibly pleased with that little surprise. I left feeling like a winner. Artists are so easy to please 🙂
London Graphic Centre is a treasure trove of art materials in the heart of London. Here is their website: londongraphics.co.uk
Have you ever thought about commissioning a nude portrait painting?
I am often asked if I paint nude portraits. Yes, I do. It’s really not much different from a regular portrait. I can work from photos you provide if you prefer. Not everyone is comfortable posing nude, but I do everything I can to make models feel comfortable in my studio. If you want to provide your own photos, I can give advice about lighting and poses. The best results would be from an in-person sitting. I do some drawings first, trying out different poses and looking for the most complementary light. Then we can choose one pose and I will take some photos of you for reference. I will use the photos and the drawings to make a painting.
I have a studio where we can do the sitting, or I can travel to you. Sometimes that’s better, because you will probably feel more comfortable posing at home.
life model posing in studio
Sometimes the best poses are not planned, but can happen by accident. The body might look a certain way in a particular light; a quick look might show more of you than a pose you prepared. If we have a three hour session, we have a better chance of finding that one perfect position that expresses what you want.
An example of an unplanned pose that worked well – the model was just taking a break between poses
Have a look at my page How to Commission a Nude Portrait which will answer the most frequent questions. If you want more information or would like to discuss a commission then please contact me via the email address on my contact page.
I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Joana Alarcão for the online magazine Insights of an Eco Artist. I must admit that it was harder work than I expected. I’ve given a few interviews in the past and usually the questions are predictable, generic and a little boring. So I was a little surprised to be sent some more challenging questions specifically about my art practice.
I’m not sure how many people read these interviews, but I always find it a useful exercise trying to explain my art practice to someone. The interview can be found here.
Joana Alarcão is an interdisciplinary eco-artist and writer who works primarily within the concepts of social/environmental justice and culture. Her website is here.
A few years ago I gave an interview to the naturist magazine Clothes Free Life. Somehow I managed to delete the original blogpost about it. It was an interesting exercise as the questions were from a different perspective to your normal artist interview. So here is the link to the article:
