…
Gawain is finished. Today’s work has been a little laborious due to the finger damaged during my run-in with the sash-window at the cottage on Saturday (see last post) but I’ve worked through the discomfort and completed the collage. It’s one of those pieces that has rather gone its own way, and moreover has signposted the direction for more work on this beguiling theme.
…
I seem to have become obsessed with foliation. From 2007′s Green George, all sapling-fresh and primed for battle, to my first forays into Sir Gawain and his green nemesis in 2008, and on to last year’s older, heavier Saint Kevin, a boy no more, bleached of colour with skin grown tattooed/stigmatised with scrolled leaves and sharp thorns. His bone-weariness gave way to Marly’s lively The Foliate Head, shifting the green gears up a notch. (Her cover boy is less man and more a sprite stitched green with leaves.) Then came Marly’s Thaliad cover, pitching me further, if unexpectedly, into more leaves and sappiness, with a green girl sprigged with flowers, berries and a bright bird. Finally, lo and behold, and here I am again with Gawain, this time tattooing the young knight with foliate stigmata and snaring him in a grove of writhing green.
I wonder — are these in some way self-portraits, Clive?
It’s said there’s always some element of self-portrait in an artist’s work. But in this case it was definitely Isaac, though there’s a little bit of Peter present too, now that I look at it.
I love the running thread that permeates your work Clive, whether produced consciously or unconsciously. You’re obviously not finished with Gawain or he with you. I am enjoying the Armitage by the way but the language sometimes surprises me. It’s very accessible and stays true to the sort of language of the period but then I’ll read something which stands out like a sore thumb (no bad finger pun intended) e.g when describing the green knight’s axe it says ‘ a cruel piece of kit I kid you not’…. but it does not spoil it for me, it is good stuff… I kid you not.
Gawain rather has me in thrall at the moment. I’m reading it aloud over and over, relishing the words and drama. I love the internal rhymes and I find constant surprises lighting up the text where previously I’d missed them. As for the contemporary turns of phrase, I like the way they bring me up short or make me laugh. He’s written a piece that would be lovely to perform for an audience. It really buzzes along.
Ridiculous really, but I never caught your strain of neo-Medievalism before; but it is right there! Marvelous stuff. Green George may be my very favorite, but red Gawain, is pretty smoking’ my friend. I hadn’t realized the source for Green George, I love seeing that now; your piece is individual and fresh, but happy to see his ancestor.
Your new piece, if I may say so, is as pretty as a Morris tapestry; i hope you don’t mind my saying that or the comparison. I am a great fan of both artists, but william doesn’t send me emails!
LG
Glad to be the e-mail stand-in for Mr Morris. While I find him overwhelming in quantity, I love his patterns and have clearly been influenced by them. If ever you come to Wales I must take you to Cardiff Castle and the small but perfectly formed Castell Coch, the ‘hunting lodge’ for it. They’re a riot of Victorian medieval fantasy. You’d love them.
Cardiff Castle is my aesthetic St. Peter’s, to have you as a guide would be as if in a dream. I hope it happens sooner rather than later.
LG
“The force that through the green fuse drives the flower…” (Just claiming a little of my Thomas Welshiness!)
So glad to be a Leaf Friend of yours! Splendid Gawain.
The Dylan Thomas quote is a good call, Marly, and indeed the poem had had come to mind when I was making the image.
Leafy friends! Well there’s a notion. Speaking of which, I guess copies of The Foliate Head should be heading our ways soon. That will be an exciting delivery from the postman!
Foliate-mad friends… I expect you and Andrew will beat me to it, so send word!
I’ve so enjoyed seeing how you develop the foliate theme each time you revisit it, Clive. This Gawain is so rich and lively, there’s something I love in just about every square inch of the picture, the foliage is really pulsing with life, wonderful stuff
Phil, that’s most kind of you. I’m so pleased that you like it.
The foliate theme makes sense to me—you live in a garden! Which reminds me that the official motto of Chicago is “Urbs in Horto”, apparently intended without a hint of irony.
Well I learn new things from you all the time, Thom. A strange turn of phrase though. I’ve heard places described as ‘garden cities’, but a ‘city in a garden’ does beg many questions!
Beautiful! And perhaps predictably, I love the little bird!
I like that bright little bird myself. Such confidence!
I love that bird, too! It is not unlike the American Goldfinch, a few of which frequent our yard on a daily basis.
wonderful! that vine growing up through his armour just makes the whole thing…
i am sorry about your finger
The finger is much less painful than it was. I’m fine. But thank you.
I’m keen to get on with the next Gawain now. Ideas flowing.
Beautiful and handsome! It is quite fascinating how an artist becomes obsessed with and inspired by certain elements, which appear sometimes subconsciously in the beginning, and call for more and more exploration in subsequent works. It is a wonderful thing, isn’t it?
What’s interesting here, Marja-Leena, is how disparate ideas have become linked thematically for me by the foliate thread. Right now it’s the force flowing through my work, and I have to follow where it leads.
I’m glad you think him handsome. (-;