On a very beautiful, sunny, cold January morning in 1997, I was tutoring a painting workshop for the Brec Noc Arts Society.
A man had painted a delightful landscape taken from the breathtaking views between Brecon and Crickhowell. When I looked at it, he said to me...'actually that field looked blue, but I have painted it the colour I think it should be, which was brown'
The man had seen a 'blue field' He had seen the reflection of the bright blue sky onto the frosty field.....but because he had been brought up to believe that fields are not blue in the winter, he dismissed what he actually saw.
In my 'creative thinking' talks this is the kind of example I use to express how we tend not to take notice of our senses and what they are really telling us. Instead, rather like lemmings, we accept what we are taught - which is sometimes a wise thing to do, but not always so.
So, along with Deutche Telecom, and get this, Chiefs of Police from around the UK, my creative thinking talks were going well. AT the end of each session, I would paint the portrait of one of the participants - always a fun experience.
This brings me to my first trip back to the Atlanta, Georgia area in 1997, where between 1997 and 2002, I was to paint many water colour portraits, and give workshops at the Quinlan Center for the Arts.
The Quinlan workshops lasted for five days. I would stay with the 'Kearnsclan' dear and wonderful friends...children of Jane and Jack Lukas. For anyone following my blog from the start, Jane Lukas was my surrogate Mother. I met Jane, Jack and the children in 1974 in West Chester. They are family to me.
Jane and Jack had a fantastic house on a lake two hours north of Atlanta, and so after my workshops, I would always go there for a few days of R & R.
It was at one of the Quinlan workshops that I met Susan Eddy, the woman who was to become the agent in the States for the Christeve project. Much more about all of that later.
Until I am reunited with many more of my images in the new flat, here are two examples of the kinds of water colour portraits I painted on these trips.
Anyone with an interest in viewing work in my media section, can click on my profile portrait, scroll down, click on first image and then view as a slide show.
These images span 37 years, and are just a few examples of series of works that often took years to produce.
A Bientot
