Stories and Intentions – An Open Discussion With ANA Artists

You can just stare at these paintings here on the screen while you listen to us talk about them or you can download this art podcast and enjoy it in your own time and just picture these images in your mind.

A group of artists discuss my oil paintings at the Artists’ Network Alpujarra group show in Órgiva, Granada, Spain. We start off this art podcast by talking about the A3 framed painting pictured below, called Eternal Play. We then we move into the next room to speak about the A3 oil on canvas, The Girl, The Bread and The Yellow Truck. We finish off by discussing the 100cm x 70cm erotic tryptic, Not What You Think, Your Dirty Mind and Massage.

Eternal Play

In this painting I mix oils with wax for the first time. Vivid colours depict a scene in a river, which I photographed several times because the light on the river had caught my attention. I was also trying to capture the fun the youngsters were having swinging from a tree and splashing into the river, as were the women with their cameras, standing in bikinis, knee deep in the river. In the end the painting became more about them and the whole scene, rather than the swing and the light. I’m happy to report that the location seems recognisable to anyone who knows the spot.

Click to see the painting in the web shop.

The Girl, The Bread and The Yellow Truck

An A3 oil on canvas. A juxtaposition of two thing I like – my young friend and a huge yellow living vehicle truck. This is painted with glazes, leaving small sections of canvas without any paint on, to achieve some luminosity. The way the girl is expressing herself freely is important to me, her being cheeky with the bread, that she just happened to be carrying when I snapped her, shows her personality. One of the reasons I chose this image of her is because she’s holding her phone and I wanted to show that as a contemporary prop.

Click to see the painting in the web shop.

Not What You Think, Your Dirty Mind & Massage

This is a triptych, hung like a film strip, 3 paintings together, one of top of each other, showing the progression in time. Folds of skin are manipulated like dough, by close up, strong looking hands. The painting is intentionally multi-coloured – I mixed up as many colours as I could from a limited palette. So when I had an accident in my studio and had to repair two of the canvases, which had 4 inch rips in them, it was a testing task.

Click to see these paintings in the web shop.

Stories & Intentions

We have a lovely honest discussion in this art podcast about the whole story behind the artwork. Find out why I painted them and more – as well as what the art means to the viewer. Talking with people about my art really helps me to understand my own thoughts and realise where the pieces stem from.

Art Podcast – Snippet

If for whatever reason you can’t listen to the podcast, here is a rough snippet.

“I like big yellow trucks, they remind me of one I played with as a child. I have been meaning to put my young friend in a painting for ages and I also wanted to paint this yellow truck. One day, I casually found myself in front of the truck along with my friend. I kinda did the obvious thing of placing her in front of the truck to make the picture look more interesting. Is that how the image of the sexy woman and the car began in advertising? To make the picture more interesting? If so, then I am a culprit too. And as for the bread phallus, I blame that on the baker!”

Download the track and listen to it on your way home from work, in the car or while you do the gardening!

Thank you to Fred Shively for the photo of me in the discussion.

Artists in attendance were:

Sylvia Krudenier

Fred Shively

John Wragg

Maxine Friday