Monday 19. 10 .09 It has been another busy week. I have finished the drawings for my etching series based on my morning ride and now just have to do the etchings! I have also started a couple of new paintings. I went to see a show of paintings by Zoe Benbow at the ANPQ gallery here at Peret which I liked a lot. She is an English painter who has a studios in East London and also up in the Tarn – she paints abstracted landscapes. It is starting to cool off here now and is draughty in the mornings and the evenings, however it is still warm at midi. Had a very relaxed lunch yesterday with Giséle and Jonathan at their house in Ceyras.
Congratulations Peter always pushing boundaries yet I think in a very saleable way too. The ones I liked the most show sharp turns in the road, swooping banks, inky shadows – yum.
These are extremely successful drawings and I cannot wait to see how you develop them as etchings. I particularly like the way you have striated the road which has tremendous suggestion of movement and particularly a little later in your ride when you are in the country and you have some shadow lines crossing the road which gives an almost stroboscobic effect of light and dark. Then also the way you cantilever the angle of the paving from time to time which also helps suggest movement and a degree of exhilaration. The tones are excellent and I enjoyed the occasional sideways look at the landscape. Also the narrowness of the streets in the town to the opening up in the countryside. Very clever to do it as a slide show. I really enjoyed the trip. The bicycle finally at rest is a great touch. How do you mange to draw whilst riding a bike??? Only joking but the drawings have great immediacy and you are definitely seein over the handle bars when the road is in front of you!!
Congratulations!
The drawings are fantastic. They’re incredibly cinematic. I can’t wait to see them as prints, though they work very well as they are. You really are cooking. Are you still loving the life devoted to art? Seems like.