Avant Gardener

The submission date for my annual rejection from the RA Summer exhibition came around a lot quicker than I was expecting this year. It did push me back to my studio to finish off the paintings though, which was a positive step. I had two weeks off at Christmas which - coming up to it - felt like a huge glug of time, but the reality was that I filled it up with stuff and didn’t get to my studio once, for shame.

The RA has a theme for submissions, this year was ‘connection’ which was absolutely no use to me and my work. I’d decided to do another version of the ‘Fragile’ painting I’d submitted last year but do it - er - smaller. In a half-hearted attempt to curry favour I called it ‘Connection’ but I doubt that’ll cut the mustard. Not that I don’t believe in the painting, I do, it’s that I have no idea what the RA want, and I want to stay true to my art, man.

I’ve started a series of self portraits based on photos from my sea swims, and have incorporated sand from the beach at Penarth with the paint. I wanted to refine the self portrait for submission to the RA but I simple ran out of time and submitted the painting painting above, which is never gonna get selected, simply because it’s too big, but hey ho there you go.

Looking forward to getting up to the Summer Exhibition for the first time since the pandemic.