I forgot to mention the blocks of wood are not fixed together; just placed in position for the photograph to suggest something.

blocks of reassembled painted wood

These are photos of work in progress, with the sun streaming into the studio window. They started as found off cut blocks of wood; cut up again stuck together and painted on using fragments from random drawing. They were reformed by combining different ends, with the size and grain of the wood playing a factor. Bits of hardboard pieces were included. I played with positive and negative shapes from the lines of the drawings, sometimes reversing what was space and the form by applying black and white oil colour. These forms were washed away by pouring turps on them, then repainting, sometimes reversing the black and white again. I then arrived at a point here when I cut them up again, into their current form. Throughout the painting bit I was mindful of associations of the beach huts of calais, with their washes of white and grey catching the light of the seaside together with the rough finish of the constructed wooden hut.

But I don't know what to do with them next.

Peter Cartwright painter

Peter Cartwright.

I really admire this abstract painter from Derby. I first saw his work at Bend in the River stand at the London art fair two years ago. His retrospective has just finished this month in Derby and showed his varied output since he left the Royal College of Art in the early 60s. His paintings from the mid 90s were an interesting comparison to his early stuff, work which could be both painting and sculpture. Some of his work in the 80s was like Patrick Heron in terms of colour form and surface, with wobbly edges. Some were clever wall mounted constructions, with watercolour paper shaped to painted frames. I love his handling of paint, and it was interesting to see how drawing plays a central role in his practice, and how it looks pleasingly odd on the surface, with glimpses of underlayering. Some of his recent work (burntbillbunting) is like a tribute to De kooning, with its battered and built look. Who else shares this artists' concerns?

http://www.bendintheriver.co.uk/show2.html

ideas for paintings when I couldn't paint

sketchbook page from 2004

09 MA at St martins

Some artists whose cards I picked up whilst nosing round the MA show at St Martins: Alina spatariu, Manali Shroff, Leah Draisey, Gary Colclough, Mao Yang, Ivy Hon Mei Chan, Damien O'Connell, Robert Cary-Williams, Lenko Vohankova, Maya Ramsay...
Shroff's paintings seemed fresh and teaming with ideas. I liked Menelaou's horror show which had a compelling industrial soundtrack with a cute ending. No-one had been up to whizz-bang painterly stuff though. The view is always good from the top... (of the building I mean)