On the bright side

Some of the generous comments left:
The best I have seen here for ages. Love em. Jo Bousfeild

A ray of sunshine into a bleak February Day. I felt warmed. Paul Tucker

Very glad to have seen your exhibition - I love the play and interaction between colour and forms/symbols - Intriguing story and great connections to Greece portrayed in your art. Verna

Elegant, witty original work. I do of course admire the spirit of improvisation. Using this in relationship to storytelling and myth making seems a high-risk strategy. I admire this - so well do terry. regards etc - Roger Jones

They came and went!

One day I will be perfectly prepared for the private view disappointment. But not this one.
They said they would come, they wished me well, they even joked about the air fair but in the end the no-shows were in the majority by 10.1.
I still look at the work and feel proud, but I do wish a few more could have made it.

Erik is made public

Well its on its way.
Putting the final touches to the opening and public launch of Erik, the book.
With another exhibition planed for October there is a bit of a juggerling act as to what to show. Not that I don't have enough but what to show where.
Frames are almost complete as I write poster are up and invites are out.
It remains, as always as to who turns up, but I do hope one of the grand children can make it though I doubt it.
I'm looking forward to giving it its first reading though very nervous. A little practice might be a good idea.

Erik

The lost god of Crete

By Terry Cripps

Book Preview

Berlin

Nothing can prepare you for what is Berlin. Every 15-20 minutes you find a new view, and I do not mean the picturesque, but the way your perceptions are constantly challenged.
I was not prepared for the level of emotion that would be produced in me from being at the heart of so much resent history. I felt all of the 20th century was here in some form.
It is remarkable how the Germans have come to terms with their place in the history of Europe and confronted it in the last 20 years.
I wanted to visit the Jewish memorials and thought they would be tucked away but no. No other nation would have put a memorial to the Jewish Holocaust in clear site of the Reichstadt and in so doing place the memory of that part in the history of Germany at the heart of every day.

Some comments are more welcome than others

A fine day at ...

Country fair held ...

By Terry Cripps

Book Preview

I should never be surprised by the comments that my work elicits but every now and then I am struck dumb.
This book, published through Blurb, is one in a series I have been compiling to collect together photo-essays/records of life in this small area of Gloucestershire. Being as it is a quiet backwater.
I obtained permission to photograph the whole operation from start to finish and was/am very pleased with the result. Feeling I had not only caught the atmosphere of such events but told a story of how extraordinary this one is.
Flush with my self praise I present a copy to the organisers to show my work and appreciation and wait for a response. Non is forthcoming after four weeks so I chase up the contact at the estate office and ask for the book to be returned. Whilst in conversation I enquire of any opinion voiced about the finished product to be told that the squire and his wife were 'disappointed'.
I ask you what is there to be disappointed about. Not only did they not pay or contribute other than permission. The project was not for them but me.
Perhaps I expect to much but from well educated landed gentry politeness would be the minimum.
Thanks all the same.
Do have a look and post your own thoughts. I am anxious that I have not missed a vital point of communication here.

Artist Social Networks
Anyone who has ever joined one of these will know that they seldom achieve the level of informed contact they expect. Those of the community who follow close enough and dare to offer comment on posted work do so with such single sentence thinking and mono sylibal elequence as to make 99% worthless. I know the established thinking is 'its the work dummy, the work' but when you have given up your treasures for peer reveiw and all you receive is 'I really like/love/adore or think (this) is cool' there are an enormous number of wasted hours wasted infront of a screen that should be used creating.

Six weeks and eighteen paintings later

What life looks like this morning

The months of November and December have been unprecedentedly wet, sometimes cold and wet but pretty dam miserable. This has meant no gardening but a great deal of time in the studio.
Six weeks in fact. A great luxury.
Whilst my mental state has not been its best I have at least had the joy of pushing some of my ideas and compositions further than before. Sketches and ideas from Crete have taken some time to evolve, with some turning sour and having to be abandoned but the beginnings of Erik 2 has started to unfold.
It looks as if it will be a lot darker in telling than the first story with a good deal more drama. But that's for the writing to unfold which will come later.

New painting

Anyone who has ever tried painting for a living can connect with the fear of the creative block.
It happens to us all. Knowing this is the secret to preparing for the inevitable.
When ever I go on a trip for any length of time I carry a highly developed mini studio of tricks in my bag, nothing unusual about that you may say, but the use and force these sketches, observations, make to continued working, even through these tough patches when the creative muse is vacant, is irreplaceable.
It is a long held belief that mistakes are not productive, I would argue the opposite.
It is understanding the mistakes and turning them to your creative direction that marks the difference between many an artist and the person sitting next to you on the bus.
My sketch books are far more than idol jottings filling in time between the next great canvas and sleep. They are where I allow myself to make mistakes and discoveries. They are often my best work. Representing as they do that interaction at the coalface of inspiration and execution.
And in those dry fallow times the are the key that sets the imagination flowing again.
If you want to know more about an artist, look for the sketchbooks. Here you find the raw edgy stuff that makes them tick.