Gordon Scott 1914 - 2016, a personal tribute.

I first met Gordon in my first term at Camberwell School of Art in 1946. I was then only 13 years of age. His duties were to teach the Junior Department the history of architecture from the Roman times onward. His first lessons were drawing on a blackboard plans and profiles of various buildings, many from the Gothic period. In later terms he escorted us to view and draw many of the Wren churches in the City. Owing to the flattened spaces caused by the Blitz, our views of Wren edifices were mostly uninterrupted. The City itself was quite silent. In correcting our sketches, Gordon's ability to sum up the structure of a church in a few swift lines greatly impressed his pupils and he became quite popular.

Ten years passed before I met Gordon Scott again. My first teaching engagement at Camberwell was to be his assistant on his drawing classes around the City. Having had the benefit of Gordon's wisdom in my teenage years, I relished the opportunity of working together, since much of what he taught me previously had inspired a life-long interest in architecture and I was now quite knowledgeable.

Throughout our long period as colleagues, as with other staff members, I had never seen any of Gordon's paintings. He did show regularly in the Royal Academy Summer Shows, but many of us despised and refused to visit the Academy. It therefore came as a shock when in 2017 the Abbott and Holder Gallery held a large retrospective of his work. Like many others I was utterly astonished at the brilliance of his paintings. The portraits in particular were very fine and I am emboldened to suggest that all those intense studies of architectural forms strengthened his sense of structure regarding the human form. It is gratifying that his life's work is now being appreciated. I am only sorry it didn't happen in his lifetime.

Golden Harvest, Shoreham

Just going through some records and had forgotten about this work... it would be lovely for it to emerge from the archives and be appreciated in someone's home...!

'Golden Harvest, Shoreham' (Kent). Water and gouache approx. 20" x 16", £550.

Castles and Others...

In 1977 I held my first exhibition of castles held at Woodlands Art Gallery, Blackheath, entitled 'Castles and Others', it also included other buildings in the picturesque tradition.

For the previous 3 years I had toured the country in search of likely subjects. My first discovery was Caernarfon Castle in North Wales.

Caernarfon Castle 1975, oil (sold).

From the top of a medieval wall tower I managed to paint a small oil panel in the midst of difficult circumstances. In the face of a howling wind I was only able to work by stuffing coconut matting into the battlements. Despite the hostile conditions the painting turned out better than I expected partly due to my enjoyment of the symphony of slate grey rooftops surrounding the castle. It was subsequently bought by The Landmark Trust who owned the property and hung it in a room below my rooftop painting perch. 

Then followed drives to Scotney Castle ...

Scotney Castle, Kent (sold).

Saltwood Castle...

Saltwood Castle, Kent 1976 oil on panel (sold). 

and Lauriston Castle near Edinburgh...

Lauriston Castle, 1977, oil on panel (sold).

My nearest subject was the towering landmark at Shooters Hill, Severndroog Castle, built to commemorate a victory on the Malivar Coast in 1735. Severndroog Castle also acted as a beacon for Thames shipping such was its height.

Severndroog Castle, Shooters Hill, oil on panel approx. 18" x 14", £375 (sold).

These paintings are romantic in spirit and owed much to the history and myths surrounding these fortresses. In past centuries artists had enjoyed a close affinity with literature and this produced a rich cross fertilization, very obvious in the painters I most admired such as Thomas Girtin and Turner. By the mid 20th century new developments moved rapidly away from this happy relationship. I personally found these later movements ultimately lacking in depth.

My fascination for Girtin subject matter has also remained constant e.g. river scenes, particularly the Thames, woodland glades, city vistas and also the occasional one house on the edge of a moor! Visionary in mood these latter are painted always from memory from a bank of images many decades old. Although mystery surrounds these isolated dwellings they remain a welcome sight for the weary traveller.

Bishops Palace, Durham 1974 (sold).

Highland Scene with Unidentified Castle, 1978, oil on panel (sold).

Eynesford Castle Kent 2000 £200.

Rochester Castle, from the Cathedral Close, oil on panel (sold).

Built in the early 1700's I have long been impressed by Vanbrugh Castle, high on the skyline overlooking Greenwich Park in South East London.

Vanbrugh Castle, a Winter Scene, 2005, oil on canvas 11.5" x 11.5" £450.

Beginning a medium sized oil of this subject 3 months ago I have just this week completed it. I was surprised at how Gothic in appearance it turned out with a mood of low keyed pervading mystery!

Vanbrugh Castle, a Gothic fantasy, 2017, oil on canvas 24" x 30" £350. 

West Greenwich Library Talk 9th June 2017

The 2 videos below are a recording of the talk I gave at West Greenwich Library in June this year. I hope they give an idea of my background, the city life that shaped me and what led me to become so passionate about painting the Thames. The recordings are by Irene Butcher and Delia Scales. Irene filmed the introduction with the jazzy music and did a brilliant job in editing. Delia, who did most of the filming, admits that as a first attempt at filming it's a bit shaky in places with some unusual angles and close ups but I think they capture the gist of it all! Peter Garretty mastered the mysteries of uploading videos! My thanks to a great team and also to all those people that attended the talk and I hope it will be of interest now to many that didn't. Thank you also to West Greenwich Library for their generous support, they truly are a fantastic local resource.    

Part 1

Part 2

Vogue!

Just found out that I'm in this months' edition of Vogue, sadly not for my great fashion sense but for an image of London featuring alongside an article by Cristina Ruiz...

Blackheath Halls Summer Exhibition

Last chance to visit our fantastic Summer exhibition at Blackheath Halls, the exhibition is open until Thursday 29th June 10AM - 5PM daily. For more information please visit our Facebook page https://en-gb.facebook.com/www.blackheathartsociety.org.uk/ . This year the society celebrates it's 70th anniversary and as such is the oldest art society in London, launched in 1947 with Graham Sutherland as first President.

A Huge Thank You!

To everyone who visited the exhibition and to all those who made it to the talk and to West Greenwich Library who hosted the exhibition and were so generous with their help and support.I have hugely enjoyed this trip down memory lane and hope you did too? For those that missed the talk but would like to see it I will be posting a video of the talk on this blog soon.

Photo courtesy of Irene Butcher

Photo courtesy of Irene Butcher