2026-09-25
I was thrilled to hear that my picture Against The Three Poisons has been accepted for the 62nd Essex Open Art Exhibition, again hosted by the Beecroft Gallery, Southend and selected by artist Heidi Wigmore.
It depicts the Amida Nyorai - an extraordinary 13th Century figure of a meditating Buddha carved from wood, lacquered and gilded with gold leaf, photographed in it's protective case at the Victoria & Albert Museum.
I was struck by the hands raised in the "Vitarka mudra" gesture which represents discussion, wisdom and knowledge.
I'm really no expert but, as I understand it, in Buddhist philosophy the Three Poisons are greed, delusion and hate - poisons which could reasonably describe our current socio-political and cultural environment.
In a press image of Donald Trump - a living embodiment of the Three Poisons - a similar gesture represents corruption, arrogance, dishonesty. I couldn't help thinking of the contrast between one of history's most repulsive humans and one of it's most perfect.
Perhaps the "Vitarka mudra" represents the antidotes against the Trumps and the Three Poisons of our time - humility, understanding and love.
2025-11-22
One of the pictures from my Rude Ruins Glitter series has been selected for the 61st Essex Open Art Exhibition, hosted at the Beecroft Gallery, Southend between 22/11/2025 and 15/02/2026.
Hadleigh Castle, built in the 13th century to defend the Thames from invasion is a spectacular local landmark. Subject to gales and gravity, most of the structure is now gone with only partial remains of the walls and the North and South towers left.
It is a melancholy, romantic place with wide vistas over the Estuary, sweeping from Southend, across the north Kent coast to Canvey Island and beyond.
At the moment I made this picture (on 35mm film with a plastic "panoramic" camera) I was completely alone - not another human being, or activity, in sight. The river seemed frozen. Only the sky, Constable's "chief organ of sentiment", was animated, sweeping pools of light over the water.
Constable painted the castle after the death of his beloved wife Maria and exhibited the picture accompanied by a few lines from John Thompson's poem "Summer":
Wildly, through all his melancholy bounds
Rude ruins glitter; and the briny deep,
Seen from some pointed promontory's top,
Far to the dim horizon's utmost verge
Restless reflects a floating gleam.
2025-10-04
A visit to Manningtree and a warm welcome from Penny to her wonderful North House Gallery, the final days of an exhibition of intriguing work by Helengai Harbottle.
Battled the wind and rain along the 2 mile route to Flatford, reacquainting myself with Constable Country, the clouds and sun eventually settling their differences.
2025-09-15
St. Mary's Church, Widford, Essex. On the old coach route between Suffolk and London, Constable made a stop here and sketched the tomb of Sarah Howard, Viscountess Falkland, (?-1776), in the cemetery between the road and the walls of the original church.
Standing close to where Constable was, looking west into the setting sun. The tomb and it's pyramid (designed by George Gibson) now enclosed by iron and neglected - gently dissolving into the surrounding grasses, trees and shrubs.
