Vincent’s DNA exposed in a letter
Note: The F and JH numbers in this blog are standard references used by van Gogh scholars to refer to specific works, rather like scientists use Latin names to refer to species. Today I went to see The Real Van Gogh: the Artist and his Letters exhibition at the Royal Academy in London and OH [...]
Gauguin in Brittany
I made a new short film about artist Paul Gauguin in Brittany. He returned to Brittany many times to paint, to see fellow-painters and to enjoy (what was then) a savage, remote part of France. Many of the places he lived and worked still exist. We vis…
Van Gogh’s Letters: the books
After 15 years of work, the Van Gogh Museum has published an astonishing six volume set of the complete letters of Vincent van Gogh. Building on the groundbreaking work done by the late Jan Hulsker, the authors have set a standard in art publishing that it’s hard to see will be bettered. A more thorough [...]
The Living Planet
I wanted to combine some of the ideas and motifs I had so enjoyed making in my recent works “Life on Planet Three” and “The Wallace Line” into something simpler and less complex, but no less colourful or joyful. The result is this, the Living Planet: The picture features these creatures: a brown hare; a [...]
Eynsham under snow
My village of Eynsham in west Oxfordshire rarely gets snow. But yesterday it began to fall about 4o’clock in the afternoon and continued to fall for the next 12 hours. I went out about midnight last night to see what was going on. The view down the Pug Lane alley at the back of our [...]
Three years without Rebecca
On this day three years ago my best mate Rebecca van der Putt died aged 38, another victim of cancer. Sister of Debs, daughter of Mavis, wife of ‘the arresting’ Kate, oh-my-godmot…
The Wallace Line
I so enjoyed letting my mind run free when I painted ‘Life on Planet Three’, I thought I’d do a similar painting using many of the same motifs and visual language, but with Indonesia and Australia at its heart. The result is this: The Wallace Line. The Wallace Line is a biogeographical boundary that separates [...]
The Onedin Line
During 2009 Moth and I watched an awful lot of 1970s TV drama series, notably Poldark, Colditz and for the past couple of months we have been avidly working our way through all 91 gripping episodes of …
