The House of the Hanged Man

In 2006 I visited Auvers, a short train ride from Paris. It hasn't changed much since the late 19th century, and you can still find views painted by van Gogh and Cézanne. The photo shows the view Cézanne painted in 'The House of the Hanged Man' of 1873. It was a transitional work that had always had a special mystery for me, probably because of the title. It was strange to see that the house was now a respectable middle-class residence.

"House of the Hanged Man" is licensed under CC BY 2.0

I've been pinned

Thanks to 'Minkille' for pinning my painting on her Pinterest page: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/465418942713726469/

An old drawing

 I recently read that Harry Roberts, who murdered three police officers in 1966, had been released from prison. The story on the BBC website included photos of the three victims. I found the faces mesmerizing and downloaded the images with the idea of doing some drawings or even a painting from them. The more I looked at the face of the policeman on the right, the more familiar it seemed. Then I realized it reminded me of a drawing I had in a portfolio of my old work. I managed to find it, and yes, I'd made the drawing from the same photograph, 48 years ago.

 

Woodblock printing workshop

On December 13th I joined a woodblock printing workshop at Tama Art University, run by the continuing education department. We didn't do any cutting, but printed from two ready-made sets of blocks, one prepared by the instructor, and the other a set of original Ukiyoe blocks. The level of craftsmanship in the old blocks was amazing. I asked what happened if a craftsman made a mistake on a fine line. 'They didn't make mistakes,' was the reply. Crucial points when printing with water-based inks: keep the paper damp, and apply a lot of pressure to the baren.

Conviction

W.B. Yeats: "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity."