Field of Play

The commission to make the image of Saint George and the Dragon for English Heritage Magazine, came in over Christmas while Peter and I were staying with our friends Liz and Graham at their home near Lamonzie Montastruc, Dordogne.

Because the deadline for completion was so tight, and moreover I needed to get a preliminary off for approval before we returned to the UK, the first sketches for the painting were made at the kitchen table while Lizzie busied herself with preparations for supper – and puss thought that sitting in the middle of my sketch pad was a good way to help me better concentrate. (Here she is getting my attention to let her in!)

 

A few days later, back in my studio and with the clock ticking down, I painted into the small hours to complete the work so that I could deliver it for scanning at the National Library of Wales the following morning. Skin of the teeth timing!

 

 

Framed and titled ‘Field of Play’, the painting sold at the Martin Tinney Gallery a couple of weeks before it appeared in the Spring edition of English Heritage Magazine. I’m currently working on the next image in the series.

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I think I should go to stay with Liz and Graham whenever carrying out commissioned work. La Crabouille is clearly conducive to  my creative flow!

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Telling Tales

 

Announcement in the current edition of English Heritage Magazine:

‘Clive Hicks-Jenkins is our selected artist for this year’s theme of ‘Telling Tales: The Myths, Legends and Folklore of England’. Look out for more of Clive’s work, which will be appearing across our website, magazine and social media channels over the year ahead.’

Image: Saint George and the Dragon for the article ‘Saint, Soldier, Slayer’, by Michael Carter.

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the one that languished

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This is an underdrawing on panel for a Saint George painting that I never made. It followed on from Green George, but feeling at the time that G.G. was all all I had to say vis a vis the dragon-slaying saint on his charger, I put the drawing away and instead produced the hand-to-hand combat painting of Battle Ground.

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Looking at the drawing again today, it has to be said that it’s more interesting than I’d thought, though I’m still not sure whether to embark on it in earnest. The mood of the image seems to be quite calm, given the dragon has sunk its fangs into the horse’s leg. The panel is quite a size and would take a lot of time to complete, and so I’ll sleep on it a while yet, so as to be sure before committing myself.