John Piper made several studies of Cheltenham where I made my entrance into this world and I would often come across his work in Oxford where I was studying to teach Art and Drama at Westminster College and Oxford University Dept. of Education . I have always been regaled by his work . As an adjunct to my recent woodcut series La Rue Principale, Verteuil , I will be looking at the architecture of the village . This will include Le Chateau de Verteuil , l'Eglise avec son mise en Tombeau , and some of the more startling architectural features of the french village where i am resident .
 |
| Photograph : Jane Courquin ~ Lichères |
When I was first in France I was digging to prepare the soil for our small potager when by chance i excavated the most beautiful pottery fragments in blue and white with a floral design . I was moved to immortalise them into one of my paintings that is on display at Atelier 32 , Verteuil-sur-Charente .
 |
| Photograph : jane courquin ~ Lichères |
Some translation work for a visiting film maker making a pilot for the BBC in 2005 had taken me to a secluded church that sits in a field of sunflowers in the summer . Whilst writing my translation on the architectural features of L'Eglise de Lichères and its importance to the pelerins who travel the route St Jacques de Compostelle , i was astounded at the beauty of this simple church . It would be incorporated into my painting with the excavated pottery fragments and an archetypal female who was on the swim .
 |
| Photograph : jane courquin~Lichères |
 |
| Photograph: jane courquin~Lichères |
 |
| Photograph : jane courquin ~ Lichères |
 |
| Painting jane courquin Venus~Fugitive Pigments |
The work of John Piper was a great inspiration for several of the paintings i created when we first moved to France , especially my paintings which incorporated the romanesque architecture of L'Eglise de Lichères with its arabesquing lines which provide the backdrop to the archetypal female crawling on her belly through the undergrowth or perhaps trawling the seabed while she awaits a sea change . The female figure is derived from the sculpture of Giselbertus originally for Autun Cathedral , France .It is an image i have carried with me for at least twenty years after first seeing a represenation of it at an exhibition at the london Arts Council . I also used it for the inspiration behind a bas-relief wood carving i made in Oxford in 1995.
 |
| John Piper Lichères |
Two paintings exist from this early series 'Venus~ Fugitive Pigments' and 'La Paix '. It is my artistic intention to continue my series Architecture et Paysage, La Charente in the spirit of these two paintings and their inspirations .
No comments:
Post a Comment