"Poolside"

 

 

12 x 12"

oil on panel

What says summer like a swimming pool and being this is the unofficial start of summer I'm posting one of my new paintings for a group show Looking Forward, held at Robert Lange Studios and opening July 2nd.  

 

Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) 1972,  is one of many paintings David Hockney used a swimming pool as his main subject.  While flying into Los Angeles from England, his birthplace, he marveled at what he saw below.  ‘I looked down to see blue swimming pools all over, and I realised that a swimming pool in England would have been a luxury, whereas here they are not.’  Without realizing it, he found one of his greatest subject matters for the following two decades.

Hockney's first attempt at this composition, after months of working and reworking it, ended with a total wipe-off.  He set off to take multiple photographs until he found the exact reference he was looking for - imagined months ago.  With just four weeks until a gallery show opening, he worked 18 hours a day and completed the finished painting the night before the shipper was to pick up the piece and get it to New York City.

46 years later, Hockney's most widely-known and loved works of art sold for a record $90.3 million in Christie's auction.  In 2019, he left Los Angeles after residing in California for 55 years, and now lives in Normandy, France where he says he'll live out the rest of his days.  The 82-year-old artist describes a normal day is working in his studio in the morning, breaking for an afternoon meal and maybe a nap, then going back to his studio for the evening.  

Now that's the life.

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"Three's Company"

 

 

6 x 8"

oil on panel

sold

This study was a test for me - wanting to take on a larger painting with David Hockney's Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy.  As simplistic as Hockney's composition is, it's the reproduction that just ain't as easy as I thought.  But I've always been intrigued with his painting.

The two were Hockney's friends in London - Ossie Clark, a dress designer and Celia Birtwell, a fabric designer.  Hockney portrayed couples in several very large paintings.  The difference here is notably the two are looking at the viewer, other paintings have at least one looking off to the side.  He painted them in their flat in Notting Hill Gate, in their bedroom where the light was favorable to Hockney.  The tough part, the artist said, was the couple was against the light which darkens the figures indoors.  He did many studies and experiments to get the composition, the lighting and the couple's expressions right - going against the standard portrait of a couple where the woman is seated and the man stands next to her.

 

Percy was one of the Clarks' cats who symbolizes a libertine and somebody who disregards rules and does what he pleases. Sounds right.  The vase of lilies to the left of Celia are a symbol of the Annunciation and feminine purity.

 

Hockney was best man at the Clarks' wedding.  The space between them in his painting is said to be prophetic - the marriage didn't last.

 

"Poolside"

6 x 6"

oil on panel
sold

My new painting, a study for a larger piece, was both a blast and challenging.  David Hockney's Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) is vivid and patterned and awe-inspiring.  I am thrilled for David Hockney, who is still alive and well and producing fabulous paintings - at a recent Christie's auction, his painting started with no reserve at $15 million and fetched $90.3 in the end.  So deserved for its recognition and worth.

Hockney is known for his brilliant pool paintings of course.  This was inspired by two photographs next to each other on his studio floor.  A double portrait.  Hockney worked on it for about a year - looking at a due date of just four weeks until he had to ship it off to New York for an exhibition.  That lead to working 18 hours a day for two weeks just to get it done.