The Calderdale Portfolio

*Illustrated. 36 pages. Available as .pdf
 
On a shelf in my studio on the Caribbean Island of Dominica is a portfolio marked “Calderdale”. The portfolio contains paintings of the towns, villages and countryside of my youth; places far removed from my adopted homeland in the tropics.  But on occasional visits home I began to see what had once been familiar scenes with a fresh vision. The book ends with closuring notes about the creative process.  

 
Whether it be the landscape, portrait or figure, I need to confront the real thing. I cannot walk around a photograph of my subject, neither can I touch, feel, sense or talk to it. It can be troublesome working outdoors; you get burnt by the sun, drenched by the rain, bitten by ants and easels get bowled over in the wind. In the studio, models cannot be expected to retain the freshness of a pose for longer than a couple of minutes. Nevertheless, the rewards of working from life are worth the effort. Between the torn up false starts, the exploratory lines and the dashed down runs of colour, there on paper, is a trace of the truth!