Recent work, August 2014 (Thaw)

detail:

view on etsy

Sacred Pitch








































detail from a work in progress

Winter work (Northern Accent)

etsy link

Two new paintings for April

(untitled)

etsy link

Spring Clowns

oil on canvas

etsy link

"Spring Equinox"

Spring Equinox

oil on wood panel

8 x  8 inches

view on etsy

Tunnel Visions and Minotaur Dreams

These first two are small oil studies,
exploratory paintings in a new series
called "Tunnel Visions",
hinting at the preciousness of sight,
again exploring boundaries between landscape,
aerial perspective techniques and abstraction.

As James Elkins has described so beautifully in "What Painting Is",
oil paint actively encourages this kind of thing -
a sense of depth and the wallowing in atmospheric effects!

Largely the marks are made with the thumb and fingertips
and occasionally rags.
Painting medium or solvent dissolves and blurs edges and allows for subtle skeins of pigment to criss cross one another and blend.

In the above example, alizarin crimson makes a dramatic note
which could possibly be seen as jarring, but that's the point
really - experimentation.

Below, sap green, white and raw umber are applied more
loosely, but with a similar end in view; that of suggesting a heavily
circumscribed glimpse upon some new realm.

Minotaur Dreams...

Above are two from the "Minotaur Dreams" series,

where similar techniques are used with warm raw burnt and red umber,
deep orange oxides, indian yellow  and smoky transparent blacks.
Solvent is sprayed on gently to make the paint more diffuse
and give detailed drip effects in some areas.
Rags are used to expose paler golden staining from the Indian yellow.

White and naples yellow are opaque additions that immediately create

a fog like area - sometimes this gives a sense of far distance
and a blurring of any hinted-at horizon.

Below, a Bull of the Woods, with an initial improvised drawing layer
using piped black acylic from a plastic bottle with nozzle
(the type you get in haircolouring kits).
This dries very fast and it's very satisfying to rub oil paint over
and around these contour lines.
That eye keeps  recurring. Slightly unnerving...

Recent work,March - April (Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You; Entanglement)

Oh Whistle and I'll Come To You

Entanglement

Latest work, "Blush For Naught"

"Blush For Naught"
small Spring abstract
12 x 10 "
oil on canvas
view on etsy

£1,483 funded; £302 to go!

Very exciting times! We are approaching our target with just three days
remaining on the "We Did This" Crowd Funding site!

http://wedidthis.org.uk/projects/save-old-lock-studio

£1,483 funded; £302 to go!  
This will secure the lease for the Old Lock Up studio for the next six months.

original painting by Rachael Pinks

Online gallery here

Rachael in her studio

Her art blog

Thanks so much to everyone who's contributed,

either directly or by purchasing paintings and prints 

from my etsy shop. At least 50% 

of any art sales I make up to the deadline on February 4th 

will go towards this project.  

Many thanks too to all 

who've helped to spread the word!

http://wedidthis.org.uk/projects/save-old-lock-studio

Blizzard's Home

view on etsy

Abstract in progress

Details from work in progress:

This first is a more "alchemy-influenced" painting,

-which feels as though it marks the coming of the dark half of the year,
a possible time for occultation, and finding strength deep inside oneself.
In the fog and murk one might at least stumble upon a new direction.
"Honour thine error as a hidden intention" as the Oblique Strategies card set
has it.

I'm currently exploring Taoist alchemy http://www.goldenelixir.com/jindan.html

and magical calligraphy;
James Elkins has written engagingly on the kinship between painting and alchemy in "What Painting Is".

New painting, "Caw and Clatter"

This is part of a series using gestural large brushstrokes in blackboard paint, with oil colour overlaid with painting knives.  It's partly inspired by the sounds made by corvidae and other birds in and around the trees in autumn.   
The painting is available via the Tarpey Gallery.

Apple Day Preparations...

Apple Day (I)

oil on canvas, 5th October 2011

First of a new series celebrating Apple Day, officially October 21st, but will be on Saturday 22nd here in Cromford, much better for families to join in with apple pressing, games and general apple-based mayhem! 

This event  highlights the need to protect older trees and orchards as both habitats and

producers of heritage or heirloom apples and encourage the growing of less widely

known varieties .

The local independent bookshop, Scarthin Books, has supported Apple Day with

its own celebrations including apple pressing outside on the Promenade at Cromford

for some years.  This year for the first time they are inviting local artists to display their

work there a la Rive Gauche!
Any sales I make will include a 20% donation to

Common Ground.

A few more relevant links are...

orangepippin


The Orchard Network (UK)

a is for apple, a V & A Museum art page

List of Apple Day events in the UK

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_apple_cultivars

...and the painting is on sale here:

etsy link 
(now sold)

Work in progress, mid -September

New impasto abstract, "Red Queen In Autumn"

Oil on Canson Figueras sized painting paper, 40 x 36 cm.  



... and a couple of details:

These details will lead to further paintings I think, this time..   I need to explore working with broader strokes using larger brushes or ideally larger painting knives.

Loving my new Mameiri Classico Cadmium Red Light.

The title also refers to an Italian "giallo" film, "La Dama Rossa Uccide Sette Volte", English title "The Red Queen Kills Seven Times".  It has a brilliant  Bruno Nicolai soundtrack which I've been listening to a lot lately.  I find a lot of his work autumnal, in an exciting blustery way.  Here's a highlight, 

"Terza Delitto".

Red Queen In Autumn  etsy link

Leafing through a book on Australian art this afternoon I chanced upon a small image of Ian Fairweather's Monsoon.  
Wonderful work! I wish I could find more about this artist on the web. 
Please let me know if you have other links to images/ info. Thanks!


http://www.couriermail.com.au/entertainment/arts/bribie-island-hermit-ian-fairweather-shunned-fame/story-e6freqkf-1225848379708
http://www.evabreuerartdealer.com.au/artists/ian-fairweather/ian-fairweather-1891-1974

http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/books/book-reviews/fairweather/2009/03/20/1237526317789.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Fairweather

James Kalm on the Willem de Kooning Retrospective at MoMA

I was really excited to watch part 1 of James Kalm's video of the de Kooning retropective at MoMA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S23gXv8FUfA


So much amazing never-seen-before (by me that is :-D) work!
I think I am going to have to watch it hourly for a week or two to
really take it all in!  Thanks so much, James.

edited to add: parts 2 and 3 now up.
http://www.lorenmunk.com/videos/index.html

detail from "Secretary"
















detail from one of the 
oil on composition board pieces

















detail from "Black Friday"

I was particularly taken by the white-on-black oil (and/ or enamel?)
on composition board paintings, sometimes having
flashes of colour.

Recent small works, A Distant Harbour/ Mask in Roses

Something Lies...(just out of view)

It's quite a strange process trying to recreate a small painting whose atmosphere I really like, on a larger scale.

At this point it looks very crude to me, a bad attempt at a copy.

The original developed intuitively whereas this is more a fake, a rehash.

It seems to completely lack the depth of the original too at the moment.

Yet I want it to work, it feels like a worthwhile attempt, as I would be interested to see if

I can make it work on this larger scale, and it's quite a challenge technically.

There are some interesting things going on inside, though, if you look closer...

two details:

I've begun to add glazing layers.  After working for some time something kicked in and the painting suddenly seemed to come alive.  I was finding gorgeous translucent mixes of deep transparent colours, blended on a palette without being too muddied together, so that they really glowed forming chords.

Two images of the original painting; photo with edges cropped and, below, the composite from scans (edited).
The original has a depth and a soft gentle quality that I desperately want to recreate.
It flows together,  undulates and is unified.

There's a strong Leonora Carrington influence at play here... she died quite recently; perhaps this is part of the reason why I want to make a larger version.

Also memories of a visit it the Sitwell's family seat Renishaw Hall, where  John Piper painted resonant works during the 1940s.

I used to have an album on vinyl of Edith Sitwell/William Walton's Facade,
from which my painting's title is borrowed.

The key musical influence here though, is Adams' "Shaker Loops", the slow passages of which were used extensively in the wonderful BBC Omnibus film on Carrington, Leonora Carrington and the House of Fear, which made a great impression on my imagination.  Its effect was so strong, and it has inspired me again and again throughout the years.  Seeing and subsequently recalling this glimpse into Leonora's work and surroundings, learning of her formative experiences really helped me to develop confidence in myself as an artist and to believe that I too would find my way creatively.  Paintings such as Crookhey Hall, The House Opposite, Ferret Race, Samain,  Night, Nursery, Everything and others continue to inspire me.  I recommend her writing, too, it's very sharp, subversive and funny as well as magical.

I love all the fine texture in the image below, largely from darker paint (raw umber etc) on a dry-ish brush
and wipeaway strokes with rags forming multiple fine lines over lighter areas,
giving it a somewhat print-like appearance.  The colour has been subdued somewhat
and the sharpness and contrast increased.