The Mark Rothko Centre, Daugavpils, Latvia

A year ago, I was at Riga airport preparing to fly home from an amazing painting residency, for which I'd been selected as one of 15 artists internationally. Today, this years' residents will be flying home, and I know the sadness they will feel, parting from each other. I have followed their progress over the last 3 weeks on Facebook, and 'friended' several of them. This year's residencies took place in the new Mark Rothko Centre, in Daugavpils, Latvia. Last year, the Centre was almost completed, and we had a tour of it, but we stayed at the Park Latgola hotel, in Daugavpils. I felt some pangs of envy - the residency was one of the best moments of my life - and followed their descriptions as if I was living it all again!

One of the artists from my residency was at the Centre this week, for the private view of a show he is having there. Another of my fellow residents flew out for the birthday celebrations of Mark Rothko, which were yesterday, and coincided with the opening of the residents' exhibition of paintings produced during the residency. He took a photo of my largest painting, which is now hanging in the Mark Rothko Centre, as part of an exhibition of past residents' paintings. I was thrilled to see that my painting ('Flying into Riga Airport,') has a wall to itself, and to know that it is there amongst all the other exhibitions!

This is my painting - it is 140cm by 100cm, and it is one of four I made during my time at Daugavpils. It went to Vitebsk, Belarus, in the summer, as part of a show of works representing the Mark Rothko Centre.

Below, is a new painting.......


'Paphos Walk,' acrylic on canvas, 60 x 45cm



The new Mark Rothko Centre, Daugavpils, Latvia

The Mark Rothko Centre, technicians setting up the stage for the Opening, 24th April

It seems a long time ago now, but it's only a week since I flew to Latvia. Exactly a week ago, I'd arrived at Riga airport. Today I'm going to include a few photos from the event, and later this week I'll describe fully the whole evening, and the fabulous new Centre.

The Speeches: Christopher Rothko

The Buffet meal after the Speeches.

In front of one of the slide shows, in the Centre

It was a truly memorable experience!  I met several of the artists who were on the residency with me, and some from previous residencies. The Centre is amazing, and you could spend days there, looking at the slide shows, the excellent Rothko reproductions, the library, and the six original paintings on loan from Rothko's children, Kate and Christopher. They were both at the Opening. All painting residents' artwork is now in the Centre's collection, and some were on display. More to follow!

A Mixed Bag!

(Nicosia Evening with Church Spires, oil on board, 122 x 61cm)

I'm adding a very bright painting, to try to banish my winter blues! January is always my worst month, and I'm telling myself that now we are into February, it won't be long until until the first signs of Spring. As I am spiritually still in Nicosia, this seemed the best painting to post today.

I'm just recovering from the worst Flu I have ever had. It was probably caused by the 5 hour arctic wait at Gatwick airport on my return from Cyprus, but I get incredibly frustrated when I can't paint. Finally I am out of bed, my new stretchers arrived, and I can stretch my canvas and start work again. All kinds of colourful threads, landscape imagery, and cityscapes (washing blowing in the breezes) are fermenting in my mind, and I feel that this new work may be a step towards something different.

My bad news was that I didn't get the Cove Park residency. The rejection email was very nice, as she explained that 280 artists applied, and only 4 residencies were available. Again, it depends if your work fits what they want, and previous participants seemed to be quite experimental. She said they had liked my work a lot, which was nice as they don't usually bother to make any comments, and I can always try again next year. The email even thanked me for doing the very lengthy (and technical) digital application. I am very disappointed as the landscape setting was ideal for me, and I could see myself making huge developments if I'd had a month there to explore my ideas quietly, away from my daily constant distractions. I long for at least a month of uninterrupted work! I'm still waiting to hear about my other two residency applications, but hope is fading. It's become obvious that when you first spot the email reply in the long list of daily emails, if it doesn't have an attachment, then it's likely the answer is negative!

This week I also heard that the Mark Rothko Centre at Daugavpils, Latvia (where I did my residency in September), is going to open in April. When we were there, we had a tour around the enormous, golden building, still full of builders and wires, and smelling of new plaster. It will be a big Opening, and I am considering going. I also heard via Facebook that our work is now in the Mark Rothko Centre - GREAT NEWS! One of my ex tutors from Art School is exhibiting at the Centre in April, and will also be at the opening. I really want to go, but my main hesitations are that it is a long journey from Riga airport to Daugavpils, it will be a lot of expense for 3 days, and it doesn't seem as if many of my fellow resident artists are going.

Mark Rothko Plein Air Residency Exhibition

We set up our exhibition at the Daugavpils Museum of Regional Studies and Art (Daugavpils, Latvia) on Tuesday, 25th September (in commemoration of Mark Rothko's birthday). 15 artists took part. I painted 4 canvases but 3 were hung due to a lack of space. I was very pleased that they hung my largest canvas, (pictured with me here). Entitled 'Flying into Riga Airport,' it was all about my excitement as the aircraft tilted on its approach to the airport, and I was suspended above dark forested areas, estuaries, a wide river (the Dauga) and various colourful houses. The swing of the dark shapes interested me, and I worked hard to get that green exactly right. It had to be a very particular green, as I had been impressed by the green painted houses, and the same shade of green was on the Latvian money notes!  One of the Directors came into the studio and found I had a 5 Lat note next to my palette, which made him smile.
Shortly before the end of our studio time, I tried to enliven this green curve by adding another shade that was entirely wrong (too dense), and spent the next day wiping it off with rags soaked in turpentine! My hands were green for some days afterwards, but eventually I was able to re-work the green and it ended up better than it had been. A huge sigh of relief - it was, of the 4 paintings, the one that was a new direction for me, and I was determined to be able to show it! It was also the one chosen for the catalogue.
Unlike most of my fellow artists, who came equipped with laptops, I was unable to update my blog day by day. I will over the next week describe the experience of being on a painting residency, and what I gained from it. For now, I'm including a few photos of this largest painting.

All 4 paintings extended my vision.  I worked on 3 over a course of 4 days, as studio time was very intensive and I was pulled into multi-layered, unfolding arenas. Then on day 5 I had an idea for a 4th painting, about flying over Latvia, and to my surprise I was able to finish this one on our last day of studio time. We had 7 days altogether.

('Flying into Riga Airport,' oil and acrylic on canvas, 100 x 140cm)
It was an amazing experience, and I wish it had been longer. It is the first time, since college, that I have had such a large studio space, and it allowed me to expand and reassess my ideas.
More tomorrow!