IN MEMORY OF DAI HARDING

DAI HARDING, visionary artist - long term partner of Gaynor, father of Sam

10.01.1950 - 25.02.2010

'It's always now'- DAI

Your art and your teaching live on....

Lemon Tree

Heyla Dai - I don't know why you couldn't sign in. I checked before and your name and email address were still there. I'll have another look. I painted this while away - it's the next one in the Change series. Unfortunately it's painted in watercolour on poor quality canvas (was all I could find in the local shop) but I'll varnish it when I get the chance - that should help, shouldn't it?

I know you're busy with more important things and won't be able to reply to this yet, just wanted to post it.

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Heyla Ange - Yes - the whole colourfeel is cohesive here. For me, in terms of the kind of space dislocations, and an unworried colouring it works well in its humming lil mysteries( You still don't quite grasp how 'good' you are at this dislocation 'effect' - it has power - and helps to place and sustain that inherent poesis that you recognise, and want to instill in yr work - This provides that - ie. in this, it wills the looker to go beyond the ordinary 'place' because you show and demonstrate through it that you not only own the space - but are willing to give it back without dismaying the looker or letting them down((which you are getting))) This sort of 'unworried' or unfinicky colouring forms a partnership - for me - with paintings like LION and GREEN APPLES - they both have the same kind of space and form dislocations too. ( therefore their lil mysteries) ... Relook at some Blake if you can - but he's too strong in the stylistic sense in a way - so try looking at some Samuel Palmer - much better than looking at someone like Graham Sutherland frinstance who can lead you down the wrong track - better the Palmers and make yr own way forward from there rather than follow Sutherlands Picassoisms....but as y know, many of P's solutions to animals and many other forms are too good to miss out on.

Water colour on Canvas .hmmmmmmm... that's difficult - Best thing would be to lightly tack the canvas to heavy card and - with that spray fix stuff, treat it gently and get it under glass - the UV light will attack it even through a varnish I think.... but the canvas needs to be stabalised as above because it will be prone to movement and sagging in temperature changes etc - which will eventually pull apart the paint surface.

Dai

Heart

Heyla, Dai. I've just been looking at your two new Escarpment paintings - oh what glorious colours. And then I look at 'Heart' that I painted before I went to Germany but needed to live with for a while before I put it up. It's dark, it's dark - so I didn't like it at first but I do now because it's right as it is, it has to be dark. I've put it on the Aja site. It's part of the Change series.

Mmmm ..... but now it's the cold light of day again, I like it as little as I did before. It's an ugly picture. Maybe I'll throw it in the bin and delete it. Will think about it just a bit longer.

Another day later - I still don't like it, it's so ugly. But it's painful and pain is ugly. Anyhow, can't bin it yet because it's in Leeds and I'm not.

Stairway

And now for something different. I started this a few months ago and then left it until yesterday. It's been an exploration (sort of in conjunction with drawing practice) of perspective and directions - up and down, in and out etc. It's painted in acrylic on water colour board 50 x 40. It's got lots of imperfections but I like it.

Red Woman

After I'd finished her (and I never meant to paint her in the first place) she didn't seem to belong with the Hidden Women so I've put her with the Red Men in the Red Series. I don't know whether I'll like her next week or next month, but at the moment she's quite satisfying to look at.

I've finished (for the time being) reorganising the aja site so I can get on with my new projects. I'm trying not to spend any more time with Gledhow Valley Woods - it's turned to the wall - maybe the only way to be free of it is to burn it. Hmmm we'll see. I also need to redo the background on the old Ituski picture - that will fit well with Age and Visibility (after pondering I changed the Invisibility to Visibility because that's what I'm painting and hopefully celebrating - visibility of the old as well as the young).

Thinking of Itsuki, I finally put the panels together of his picture that Zoltan recently brought back from Hungary. I've sent the photo to Itsuki for his approval and then I'll post it on the site. I'm looking forward to that - it's such a pleasure to see it again.

That's it for now. How are you getting on with The Other Field - are they finished? And did you go hothouse drawing today?

Gina1 ballpoint sketch

This is the sketch I told you about that I did with Tescos ballpoint and gel pens. It was interesting to draw without being able to rub anything out. (I like rubbing out so much, I have been known to draw with the rubber as well as with the pencil so this felt like a strange exercise.) It was drawn from memory not a photograph.

This is the beginning of one the three projects I'm now engaged with - The 5 Sisters. I've been given lots of photocopies of pictures of the sisters that I want to draw and paint. I shall use these together with memories and real life visits as a base for what I do.

falling apples

Saw some of the drawings I hadn't seen before on yr site - but also saw this one - which is very good - and full of expectations.

I can see the trouble you've been having with it and the overpainting - but if can step back from it a little - it has a bit of magic on the quiet - again the intersting dislocations of the green world - and importantly the 'isolated figure' sitting with back toward the viewer....in a space of its own almost. I like it a lot - it looks less 'tryhard' than some others, and all the better for it - titles good too. cheers. Dai

PS - Untitled 300 from yr website also looks interesting