Goodbye to all that.........

Since we last spoke things have happened.

Actually, I made something happen. I applied for a place on a masters degree course. I got a place. I started last October.

Having got through the first term, and passed the first unit I have decided to try and write again.

I think this blog was suffering from many of the same issues as my work; going round in circles not totally sure of  direction.

The problem with things that are really important is their propensity to ambush your thoughts. When I am not painting enough, the muse bites me in the supermarket, or in the shower, or when I am supposed to be engaged in some form of proper employment.

Not writing here has become another insistent pirate of my occasionally becalmed mind.

With that thought, it is time to bid farewell to Knifepainter. It may be that this will be a temporary, and this time planned leave of absence. It may be the end of the road for this particular variety of my ramblings.

In any case, I would like to extend fond thanks for your support, dear reader, and invite you to come over and see what happens here;

http://artslashnudity.blogspot.com

I suspect that the M.A. and it's challenges will probably form a good proportion of the content.
If that sounds a little dull, bear in mind that there will certainly be some images that your boss/mum/partner/carer, may find a little racy........and that, my friend, is never a bad thing.


Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

coming drawing tomorrow ???

Another week flashes past, lots of creativity going on all around.
My eldest had the Private View for her end of course show at Paston College last night......it was fabulous.
Heaps of  bright, shiny, creative young people, accompanied by an even larger number of astonished parents and other visitors.
Congratulations are most certainly due to all the students, and to Matt and his staff.
I strongly urge you to go and have a look, the range and quality of the work is a testament to the young artists of our area. I need to smarten my act up before they all start selling their work !

Oh.....and another thing.......Life Drawing tomorrow at North Walsham High School. We start at 12.00, end at 2.00pm. Bring £12.50, paper and something to make marks with........see you there !

in the pink

Busy times.......

The work is progressing, with three small paintings finished and half a dozen decent drawings pointing the way towards more complete things in the near future.

There are more than a few balls in the air in other areas. The new life drawing class started last Saturday, with two new students. I have the promise of at least four for this coming Saturday.
If you are local and fancy two hours of drawing between 12.00 and 2.00pm, feel free to get in touch.
samrobbins@talktalk.net

In other news, The Atrium, a new community partnership building on the North Walsham High School site is nearing completion. Exciting plans are afoot to make it the centre of new endevours for our local area. Music, drama, visual arts, cinema and dance are just the obvious starting points. I will try and keep you all posted as things develop.

Back soon................

life drawing alive shock.......

Just to say, there is a new life drawing class starting next Saturday, 11th of June, at North Walsham High School.
Start time is 12.00pm, finish time is 2.00pm. I will be guiding for some, teaching others, and leaving some alone if that suits them best !
The price for the two hour session is £12.50, and I am running them for the next six consecutive Saturdays. If enough participants show up, we will be starting them again in September. (The Saturday Arts Programme at North Walsham High School runs term time only).
Bring your pad and some pencils !!

more vigour

The beach painting at the top was the result of a fabulously sunny day hereabouts yesterday.
The main reason for painting it, other than the weather, was to test out a new additive to my paint. It is an impasto medium, which allows me to slap the paint on thicker.
On balance, I am happy with the result and will be experimenting further with it on a larger scale with the nudes.

Below are two swiftly executed sketches from the studio last wekend. More today I hope !!

sunny days........

are meant for this.........

on the easel.......

The arrival of Spring, and a determined approach, have meant an upturn in production.

As ever, trying to strike the balance between vigour and fussiness is taxing me. Passion, not polish is my aim and although my head is hurting a little, I am happy with this stuff.

Begging Letter......

Last year up here on the North Norfolk coast, there was a new, intimate, entertaining, creative arts festival called COAST.

This year it will be very much more intimate if a few more quid can't be raised............

Everyone involved in organising COAST is working for the love of it, you would be giving to further enjoyment of and engagement with the Arts.
If you have a business or an event to publicise, you get an advert in the programme included in the price.(Prices start at £100.00).

Have a read, and see what you think.....

http://casaf.co.uk

Some good news

I have been accepted for the Fine Art MA at NUCA.....that's Norwich University College of the Arts.
It starts in October, so much thinking and creating to be done.
sketches and ideas on here soon........

Nice hat.....

Great Yarmouth Dog Track + Beer = Man Love

Hugh's Fish Fight

Today I am posting without any illustration, a rarity if not a first for me.
I would like you to consider joining the Fish Fight, a campaign that I believe is a chance for us to help overturn the European fisheries policy which forces fishermen to return perfectly edible dead fish to the sea, simply because they have caught their quota of a given species.

This waste is not a new problem. I remember discussing this ridiculous situation at least half a dozen years ago with local fishermen. However, the campaign IS new and I applaud Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstal and his team for having the balls to fire us all up.
www.fishfight.net


Rant over.

New Year....new start ?

So, it would appear my little vacation from writing this blog has turned into a gap of over a year.

I think maybe that the extended gap is an illustration of two things; firstly how compressed time has become for all of us, and secondly how stale my online output was becoming.

A fair amount of water has flowed under my creative bridge since we last spoke. Sales have been appalling, but the lack of commercial pressure has created space for me to reflect on the work and try to come to some conclusions about where I am heading.

Teaching has become a much larger, and much more rewarding part of my week, than I imagined.
I am surprised on at least a weekly basis, by how inspiring teenagers can be. The best of them throw themselves at creative tasks with a clarity and bravery that makes me think hard, and work harder.

The result of these and many other things has led me back here, to try and record my artistic path......no matter how erratic the frequency of the musings, or the quality of the results.

When I thought about it, I realised I missed the time and reason to reflect, and I missed the sense of disparate community and support from you, dear readers.

I am, it transpires, glad to be back.

....and there's more

The top one is up for an opening bid of £25.00, the middle one is £10.00 and the bottom £15.00.
G'wan, you know you want to........

Some of the work available........

Just a sample of what's available today.
The top one has a starting bid of £10.00, the middle one is £40.00 and the bottom (in all senses of the word) is £35.00.
How can you resist ???

What are you doing tomorrow ?

If you fancy an evening out, why not come along?

This is the second sealed bid auction we have done at the shop. The last one was three years ago, and I said then that I would do another in three years time, so here we are.

Currently there are 58 pieces of work up for grabs. Each one has a minimum bid price, the cheapest of which is £10.00, rising to £150.00 for the most expensive.

A tally is kept of the NUMBER of bids per piece, but not HOW MUCH has been bid. This means that if something started out with a minimum price of £20.00, and there are three bids on it already, you have to make an educated guess to outbid the competition.......sort of like analogue ebay, but with the added advantage of wine and great company!

I'll post a few images of things for sale over the next twenty four hours, so keep checking back.

Anyway, we kick off at four, and the bids get opened at seven, be good to see you.

hey-ho

So, PDF files, what are they all about ?

At the risk of sounding tetchy, why can't I create a simple table, then e-mail it out so others can fill it in ?
Currently that's a rhetorical question, by the way. I no longer care. I've moved on. Oh yes. It's not bothering me. Not at all. Bothered I am not.

No, really.

Back to the easel then, hope you dear readers are all well, speak soon.
X

I was sent this by e-mail......

........and I want to make it very clear that I am not leading a double life.

My irregular wafflings on here have detailed some of the thoughts trials and tribulations of a struggling artist.
I now find that my namesake is quietly undermining me with his burgeoning jewelery business, somewhere in our nations capital.

It would appear that somewhere in the dim and distant, a branch of the family escaped the daily grind of digging out coal in rural Leicestershire.

I wonder if the dynasty was formed with cash gleaned from a well concealed night shift find, at the end of a seam deep below the Vale of Belvoir.............

we can be a bit short of surf.........

..........on our coast.

But not today.

Got up later than planned, and didn't get wet myself, but there were several folk up and at it early on.
I took these pics at what used to be a secret spot.......but judging by how many people were in the water, I guess the word has spread !

Nice to get back behind a camera, I'm in the mood now, so off to a place called Sea Palling to get some more pics.........I might even take the board.........

Follow Ed to Paris

This is my good friend Ed Foss, (the one at the bottom of the picture)

Today he has set off from London, accompanied by his team-mates and several hundred others, to cycle from London to Paris in Aid of the Royal British Legion.

You should be able to follow his progress here;
http://norfolknomads.blogspot.com

Give him a look if you have a mo', and leave comments of love and support, he's a top bloke.

it must be summer..........

................because I have failed to post for sooooo long !

Anyway, no boring excuses, the image above may help you understand my lack of application. The image was taken a few hundred yards from my house, one morning last week.

Would you be stuck in front a computer ?
I think not.
While spending a more than reasonable amount of time on the beach, I have managed to do some work.
Working from holiday makers on the beach comes with it's own problems. I can deal with the sand in the paint (texture), I can deal with the sunburn (struggling for my art), but I do wish people would STAY PUT !

In other news, the eldest teenager has had her GCSE results, (OK) and is starting College in a week, the other teenager begins his GCSE courses at the same time..........more joy.

Hopefully more regular post's will commence as of now, but life keeps getting in the way a bit !

Later.