RSW - Connections: Scotland and Italy

As I have a painting in the show, I thought it a good idea to go along to the Lillie Art Gallery in Milngavie to see this exhibition by the Royal Scottish Society for Painters in Watercolour, which is open for another few weeks until the 18th of February.

The Lillie is a lovely space, with several large airy, well-lit rooms.  The show itself is very impressive indeed, of a very high standard, with lots of big name Scottish artists demonstrating all manner of watercolour techniques.  it's well-hung, easy to read and beautifully presented.

The show was pleasingly well attended on the day that I went, which was great for a weekday afternoon (although I took the photos without including the people, to give you an idea of the space).

However, on striking up conversations with the visitors, I found that they, like myself, were somewhat baffled by the title of the show.  The catalogue sheds no light on the 'Scotland and Italy' theme, nor any introduction or background information on the Fabriano Collection.  What is it?  Who are the painters that are on show?  They weren't Italian, so what was it all about?  No-one had any idea.

When I submitted my piece, I thought very hard about the theme.  How to represent Scotland and Italy in one painting?  So I decided to go for a quintessentially Italian subject - and what could be more Italian and recognisable than the Colosseum, which I had recently revisited - and to paint it in a bold, Scottish style, with vigorous, expressive marks, lots of pattern-making, and vibrant colours in a restricted palette.  Allora - Scotland and Italy!

About 10% of the artists in the show seemed to have the same idea.  But, wondered the baffled visitors, what were the other 90% all about?  Where were the 'Connections'?

I had to agree.  Given that there was a bold and obvious theme, the actual content of the show seemed, whilst top notch, strangely unconnected.

Nevertheless, despite the furrowed brows of the public, they seemed to be very pleased with the show, and I would highly recommend a visit myself.  If you'd like to see a wide range of watercolour styles and water-based media, then you get along and look at a masterclass of contemporary Scottish work.

RSW Submission

I'm doing another RSW submission, this time for their winter show at the Lillie Art Gallery in Milngavie, called Connections: Scotland and Italy.

I've taken the theme and run with it....

This is a favourite painting of mine from the Vatican, and I took a photo of it when I was there during the summer.   It's not in the Pinocoteca, it's in the rooms as you walk round on the way to the Sistine Chapel, where they have a gallery with modern art.

It's not hung in the best place, being above a doorway.

So when I was at the Colosseum a few days later, I took a series of photos of the patterns of the stonework, looking down onto the arena floor.  What you see isn't the original floor, of course, that's gone - what you're seeing are the rooms and corridors beneath the arena, which would have housed the animals and combatants, which would have been brought up to the arena above them by a series of lifts and trap doors.

The shape of the arena reminded me rather of this.

(At this point, I'm inclined to tell the story of Caravaggio and his artichoke-based brawl. Ok, here goes...

Artichokes are a very Roman dish, and Caravaggio, whilst living and working in Rome, had ordered some with olive oil for his lunch.  What's volatile about some nice vegetables?  however, the waiter brought him artichokes dressed in butter - big mistake.  Caravaggio was incensed, and smashed the plate in the waiter's face.  A monumental fight ensued, which ended in a court case.  

Now, Caravaggio wasn't simply being a hot-headed arty type.  In this case, the waiter was actually making a racial slur by insinuating that fine Roman olive oil was not worth wasting on butter-sloshing northerners like Caravaggio (Lombardians being famous for their love of lashings of butter and cheese).  And he could tell Caravaggio was a northerner by his accent as soon as he opened his mouth.  Italy at that time was not united, and rivalry between the regions was rife.  So Caravaggio smacked the waiter in the face with the artichokes, gashing it open and knocking out teeth.  You don't like my face?  Well, no-ones going to like yours much once I've finished with it.  

So now you know....)

Anyway - back at the studio, I took a sheet of watercolour paper, applied a layer of gesso, then cobalt blue acrylic, then when that was dry, worked quickly in acrylics using a limited palette of lilac, cobalt, process magenta and white, with some black compressed charcoal and white pastel.  

I wanted to keep it unfussy, quite abstract, very gestural and fluid and expressive.

So here's the image of Il Colosseo. 

And here it is in its frame, slightly cropped by the mount, ready to go.  Italy painted in the Scottish style.  Scotland and Italy connected.

So we'll see how it gets on...