Broad Brush Strokes

This has been a winter of endless rain… leaden skies and swollen clouds. Iris Murdoch’s description of the rain as ‘… a punishment of steel rods…’ seems very apt.

After days and days of unremitting wet, it’s hard not to feel that the weather is somehow a reflection of the bigger picture out there… I am reminded of A level English lit and learning about macrocosm and microcosm.

…and I wonder if in some way I have been weaving the weather into my work…

John Constable ‘Rainstorm over the Sea’ (c. 1824-8)

While the rain drums on the studio roof I have been listening to Susan Owen’s wonderful new book ‘Constable’s Year’ on Radio 4’s book of the week. It’s a really insightful look at Constable’s work, and especially fascinating in light of the ‘Turner and Constable’ show at Tate Britain. I found myself lingering longest in the room of Constable’s oil sketches - transported to summer hay-fields in Suffolk.

But it is the extraordinary painting above - ‘Rainstorm over the Sea’ which perhaps best reflects this moment.

Above here is a detail from one of my new wall works, next to a bit of ink and broad brush mark-making.