John Hicks Artist and Lecturer

 

SUMMER 2004

The unmade garden erupted overnight into a sea of poppies, replaced almost as quickly by grasses and yellow flowering weeds. Didn't fancy working with the poppies but loved the grass, which rippled up to the the red walls like surf. This view is from the studio doorway, looking up the "temporary" flagstone path - now a  year old.  Click on thumbnails for enlargement.

The Flagstone Path (1) Oil on Canvas	The Flagstone Path (2) Digital image of oil underpainting.	The Flagstone Path (3) Now cut up (*see below)

Began work badly, measuring everything using fiddly brushwork. I've found that three things help to organize a painting:

- wipe out complex shapes with rag and turps;
- blend small shapes into one with palette knife;
- applied paint with fingers.

Finger-painting did the trick, allowing the composition to flow over the canvas more freely  (see The Flagstone Path (1)). Have to confess the actual painting isn't as white as this enhanced web image but couldn't resist improving it a bit. The Flagstone Path (2) is actually underpainting for The Flagstone Path (3) and only exists as a digital image. Photographing these preparatory stages is a bit of a mixed blessing; they seem to be far more expressive because they are no longer paintings. But they are useful as a starting point for future work.  *The Flagstone Path (3) just didn't work; the upper section was stronger than the rest. Tried to repaint it, finally cut it to leave the fragment Sunlit Garden Wall.

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