The evolution of a painting is strange and unpredictable . Some go smoothly and are started and finished in days , or even , very occasionally , hours , while others linger on the easel or drawing board for years . Some are never completed and are abandoned to the ‘could have been’ pile .
I’ve been working on this painting for years – I can’t remember how many but I’d guess around 8-10 but it might be more . It’s in acrylic ( it’s 96 x 50 cm in size ) and is on canvas . This is pretty rare for me . Virtually all my acrylics are on paper or board . Anyhow , for some reason all those years ago I chose canvas . The subject is one I’d used in a few watercolours as I enjoyed the curving sweep of the stairway and decided to have a murky figure lurking in the shadows , staring out of the window . ‘What are they looking at ? I’ll leave that you the dubious imaginations of the viewer .
Over the years I’ve poked and prodded , glazed scratched , dribbled , splattered and scumbled it . I’ve sometimes felt it finally finished , before deciding to dabble a bit more . It’s often been left aside for months and even years , while I work on other things , always with the belief that it still has potential and is worth struggling on with . I hate to think how many hours have been spent on it , but certainly many days and probably weeks .
One of the major dilemmas for a painter is to work out when a piece is finished . I’ve come up with my own aphorism for this . A painting is ‘finished ‘ when it’s not as good as it just was …. and isn’t going to get any better . I think that I’ve finally reached that point with this one , so it’s time to abandon it and move on . Another pertinent phrase at this point might be – ‘ A painting is never finished – it’s merely abandoned ‘ . This has been probably the longest gestation period for any painting of mine and it’ll probably be quite a time before I’ll be able to observe it with fresh eyes and work out if all the effort was worth it . As it took so long to paint I thought I’d choose an appropriate title . ‘On the Stairs … Waiting ‘
Glasgow University Commission
This watercolour , ‘Towards the University’ was painted as a commission . I don’t do many commissions and when I do I only really attempt ones that are variations of images I’ve done before . I’ve painted Glasgow University many , many times , so this certainly qualifies . Anyhow , hopefully the client will be happy with the painting and it’ll be winging its way to them very soon .
Kelvingrove Art Gallery
A watercolour of Glasgow’s famous Kelvingrove Art Gallery and museum at dusk , as seen from the nearby bridge over the River Kelvin
Wemyss Bay Station
Wemyss Bay Station connects with the ferry terminal that takes one to beautiful Bute off Scotland’s West Coast in the Clyde estuary . In my opinion it’s one of the most beautiful railway stations in the UK ( and I’ve visited more than I care to remember ) and one of the finest examples of early Edwardian architecture around . I always find it a shame that many car drivers visiting Bute probably never go inside the station to wonder at it’s splendours . Their loss I suppose .
Wet Reflections in the Park
I’ve painted a few variations of this scene , but I think this is the smallest version . It depicts the Southern entrance of Kelvingrove Park on a wet Winter day . ‘Tree Reflections – Kelvingrove Gate’
Graduation
Graduation time in the marvelous cloisters at Glasgow University
Bike on the Bannister
What cyclist in Glasgow hasn’t at sometime or other trusted their bike to the bannister . I imagine quite a few have had them stolen from there too .
Reflections and Pictures
Wee Closes
I’ve been working on a number of ‘Wee Close ‘ paintings recently . They’re all around postcard sized ( 15 x 10 cm )
Wet Reflections
A wet watercolour of my long suffering ( and in this case , damp ) partner , Ann walking a wet path . It’s all about the reflections really