Getting from A to B

There is no recipe, no dependable procedure to ensure a successful painting gets made each time, or even one that could be called “complete” as painting, let alone good. Even if one could be teased out by a summarised retracing of one’s steps back from a - perceived - successful painting and an adapting of the procedures that got the work from an A starting point to B consolidation one, it is futile because this B is now part of the past and we must not repeat it. A new ‘B’ needs to be found; one which reveals a new treasure, a new discovery and because of this newness, a new route needs also to be found; a new focus on noticing what is happening must occur in the making, a new intent to make things happen, and a new set of habits that should unfold as the next painting takes shape.

Analysing expressiveness in music (and painting?)

I accompanied my youngest to a piano masterclass in Trinity Conservatoire, London. The pianist Nigel Clayton expertly deconstructed performances of students; drilling down to the minutiae of playing: the weight of the fingers, the roll of the hand, the touch, pulling at the keys “claw-like” to invoke a nuanced difference in a dynamic to a subsequent -identical three note- motif. It was mesmerising and I hung on his every word. The analogies came thick and fast  - always illuminating the effect desired - the movement of Federer whilst waiting for a serve, for example. All the way through the sessions (each lasting ½ hour with a talented student), I kept wondering how this has any comparison with painting. The attention to such a high level of mechanical, emotional and, yes, technical detail that made me think. I believe there is such an accord and painting can only learn from it.  There can be so much more available to the expressive reach of the painter. 

Forces

The certainty coming from the look of the paint as it spreads or soaks is the immediate tell that it could be right. This is a centrifugal force. The inherent direction of the actions which apply the paint are lateral forces - this is drawing. If the summative force is a centrifugal one, the work has its truth. Decisions are lateral, results are centrifugal.

Corners in a painting contain forces: these can be: accumulative -coming out from each side; subtractive- moving in from each side: directional - following on from one side to another. Forces in a painting are perceptional and can be created by changes of detail (“visual information” available to the eye - note; not detailS as in smaller, defined parts of forms). These details induce sensations of movement. Detail can manifest itself as colour changes: hue, tone and temperature; facture changes: density, saturation and perceived or actual surface; scale changes: relational, elements, contrasts.

STARTING THE YEAR

After a heavy month of drawing - mainly from other art that has caught my attention - I started my year very early this morning. I spend the first hour of a studio session making more drawings; improvised works, usually. I made a fresh start on an existing painting by painting out and reworking the surface to get a foothold for the next session. I also made several revisions to an existing painting (the home page image “Back and First”) which has been nagging at me for over a month now. I purposely avoided touching it, though, preferring to put miles on the clock with my pencil drawings first. This felt like creating a pressure which the paint session was able to release. I have found these pencil drawings an ideal way to get me focused in a much more intense way to the studio work.

ONLINE EXHIBITION

I have 4 recent paintings, which have all been made since the lockdown, being shown in an online exhibition organised by The Cut Gallery Halesworth:

http://newcut.org/colour-exhibition/emyr-williams

statement below:
My work has always been about making paintings in response to the potential for colour to make light and space. These particular works have evolved as a result of a continual almost restless questioning about the way I put a painting together. The use of line, for instance, has become more urgent of late: line not as contour but as a force akin to an area or even a simple instance of paint. Everything in my paintings is there for a reason. I am at pains to avoid relying on chance. I will rework a painting at any point. I do not rework to accumulate more “effects” but to get to the essentials and to hone those, magnifying their realities and maximising their potential for conveying my feelings about colour. Colour can disrupt and cause mayhem in a work. I relish such conflicts and actively provoke them at times to challenge myself to resolve them into a coherent statement. I could go on and on, but unless the paintings walk the talk, it’s a fruitless exercise. I hope people enjoy their optimism.