Friday 21. 11. 08 Took the bus into Montpellier today to meet Claire and saw Musée haut, musée bas a new movie by Jean-Michel Ribes. A satiric take on the gallery-going public. It shows a cross-section of gallery visitors from the guy looking for the parking lot only identified by an icon of a famous painter, to an opening of a faux Mapplethorpe show of 300 photos of penises. The film ends with a biblical flood which leaves the survivors clinging to a raft à la The Raft of Medusa by Géricault. A bizarre, clever, funny movie.
Month: November 2008
New paintings
Wednesday 19. 11. 08 This has been another busy week and I have now finished a couple of new paintings shown here. Both are of Clermont. The Allée is just by the old station near Le Terminus and the park is just around the corner from there.
Yesterday I was back at my engraving class after the half-term break and I did my first aquatint – interesting process which I think will take a while to master. As my teacher said, it was quite artisanal with the shaking of powdered resin on to the plate, blanking areas out in varnish and then dipping it into an acid bath. It also has quite an element of surprise when you actually print it! A new student has joined the class, another anglais, an ex art historian from Brighton. The drive back yesterday was a nightmare, everything completely black and it was raining too. Luckily we are going on to winter hours next week 2.30 – 5.30 so it will be light when I drive home.
Jan & Ralph in Clermont
12. 11. 08 Monday Jan and Ralph arrived this evening and we met at Les Negociants for a drink before coming up to the house and unloading. Bourgignon chez moi for dinner and then off to bed. Tuesday we drove to St Guilhelm and walked through the village and up to the abbey. Afterwards we drove along les Gorges de l’Hérault before heading down to Sete for lunch. We walked along the canal and found a restaurant – oysters for the Marriotts and sardines for me. In the afternoon we drove up to the cimitière des marins which overlooks the harbour and were fascinatd by the photographs on the graves, the ceramic flowers and the cast-iron rings – life-rings? En route back we dropped by the Abbey de Valmagne before heading home for a cup of tea. We dined well in Le Tournesol in the evening and this morning Jan and I did a quick turn around the market before they set off for Nice en route to Tuscany. Brief, busy but very enjoyable.
River Monoprints
07. 11. 08 Friday I have been working on monprints of the river Hérault this week. I have been printing them in black and white but have coloured one using coloured pencil which I think works quite well. I would be interested in any preferences on colour vs black and white.