another version of 'The luck of Ginger Coffey'

I am working on this old image, because I like the commonplace of the location, and the isolation of the figure.

ARNOLFINI MARRIAGE 107cms x 87cms oil on canvas

painted today....

I have been working on 'The Arnolfini Marriage'

I think I am nearly there now, practising shapes and colours, and thinking of Delacroix's Journal.  The 2 figures are now closer, and therefore more friendly.

I am very impressed by Wilhelm Sasnal at the Whitechapel Gallery

I have been making a series of small studies of paintings I may well make a lot larger, simplifying the areas and the brushstrokes. Working this way, away from the final canvas, will, I hope hope help me to make more powerful images.

and now the final one of these, palimpsest

I know that this has been going down a cul de sac, but its over, and I am pleased with the results:  an area that I probably shan't visit again.

PALIMPSEST from the Woodrat series

Palimpsest: A manuscript or piece of writing material on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for later writing: something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form.  On the left, 'Woodrat Submerged', on the right 'The Birth of Woodrat'

105cms x 87cms mixed media and resin.

I overlaid shapes and the architectural colours of the Woodrat, effacing, obscuring the painting underneath.  They now seem to be saying the right things about the machine

See www.woodrat.com

changing 'Miss Palfrey' NOW she's OK, at last

a palimpsest, parts of the image hidden, giving more strength to the image, blacks and whites and faces singing...

painting Beatrice and Young Farmer today Sunday, 18th.

not a lot of Artweek visitors today - disappointing:  my idea of a rural space with non-stop wonderful international animations doesn't seem to be taking off.  ah well.  so I had time to paint today, and re-assess old work.  Looking forward to a good session in my own studio soon.

  

SOMERSET ARTWEEKS SEPTEMBER 17TH TO OCTOBER 2ND

Come and sit in comfort and watch animations and artists films from all over the world, curated by me, and have a look at my current paintings.

metamorphosis

studio at Bath Spa - two 12' x7' paintings, 'Patricia', and 'Applestore.com'

comments on my blog

Becky Buchanan  Really love these large scale pieces - Just fantastic. Standing in front of the yellow saturated canvas must be awesome!
Just a thought on the abstracts as they develop - I was really visually surprised when there was blocking out of large chunks juxtaposed with 'readable' image. Have you thought of keeping an element of representation?Loving what you're doing


Sally Jacobi  I found myself preoccupied with the people who had disappeared. Where are they. Are they buried beneath the lairs and are there still elements of them that influence the present paintings. Of course they did but how much? It seemed to me that this is exactly how life is. People are there and then they disappear but the traces of their life continue into the next generation and then onwards and onwards... Sometimes more and sometimes less!!!! A fascinating idea, keep on with it.


Elisabeth Bell I enjoyed your blog / website/ films.  The two new paintings: very thought provoking! I like the way you include us in the development by using the video. I like the double paintings with the 'possible' other side clear or obscure. Fantastic. I wish I was as busy.


Beverley Vaux  Fascinating - don't feel qualified to comment!  Very interested in the idea of morphing from real to abstract - have been doing some of this lately for our group of weavers and we have just finished our second "abstract weaving".


John Gillam What an amazingly creative person you've become!  Detachment is

remarkable.  You've got a busy time coming up at the Old School - I

hope it goes really well

Bruce Noble Well this is all very interesting but I feel a little lost….I am not sure that I agree that the human mind seeks to make abstraction out of form, rather the other way around. I am however fascinated that many artists who would call themselves abstract painters would come back to figurative work later. Each of the animations show your wonderful sense of colour and the energy to photograph each step  and the transisitons are always interesting if not downright beautiful.

Lindsay Clarke  You already know that I'm a sucker for your work but I've just had an unusually exciting time travelling from figuration to abstraction on your blogspot. What an achievment! Seeing the metamorphoses happen reminded me of the excitement I felt as a twenty-year old watching Le Mystere Picasso for the first time and having enacted before my eyes the way that imagination transforms the world. I hadn't seen your Jean Martin picture before with its wonderfully ironic title, and have only just caught up also with the film that makes your life-drawings dance. Reflecting on the humanity of your work, I thought of the poet Henry Vaughan's definition of life : 'a quickness which my God hath kissed.'  The range of your vision and skills continues to astonish me. Quite wonderful! When can I expect to see them on display in a major gallery? Congratulations and lots of love  

Michael Dixon  Posted a Comment Kate but can't see it? Brilliant work.

large paintings at Bath Spa, 12' x 7'

I have been working on these 2 large paintings, and feel that they are now getting somewhere, metamorphising, changing.  I am pleased with the amount of yellow I have managed to use in 'applestore.com'.  thinking of Sargy Mann, the best blind painter in Peckham, who uses blue tac to feel his way round a canvas, and adds pure colour.  So here is a film 'Metamorphosis'

MORPH from figuration to abstraction

 

Jean Martin Contemplates her Life' finished at last, I think..

DETACHMENT

The Luck of Ginger Coffey' or an ex-officer eats in Coventry

I think this is now finished.  lots of problems with the resin as a hairy orange carpet was put on top of it whilst still tacky.  so now there is no longer 'sky' and I think that is much clearer, nearer to the essence of the originalwww.katenoble.co.uk

from Gillie McNeill, enthusiastic!

I love the idea of the move from the representational to the abstract.  This is how our brain works....seeing if not searching for recognisable known objects and people in otherwise abstract visual patterns and colours, and likewise seeing the concrete move into the abstract, (especially when looking into the distance for short sighted people!!)  The human brain has a special area designated for face recognition, and this does not include specs. /clothes./hairdos etc of a person....just eyes nose and mouth on the face shape.  for this reason, in abstract pictures/views we search for human faces almost as a need to satisfy our brain activity.  Thus in abstract pictures, as you have on the right hand side,  we are searching for elements of humans, but not actually needing to see representations of them.  We see resonances of humans which is deeply satisfying.

katenoblepaint

I don't know what happened to the last speil I wrote, disappeared into the ether.  I am currently studying for an MA at Bath.  I am working on that area between narrative and abstract work.  I am making paintings 43"x34" a( a size that fits into my car, not for any particularly esoteric reason). I steal images with my mobiel phone, work them up in oil on linen/canvas, attach a photograph of the 'finished' work to a board, and work on the second image with mixed media and resin, simplifying back on both images.  I really think something is eventually coming out of this work.  my subject matter relates to older people, especially to older women:  titles I have appropriated from novels I have read, a bit enigmatic, but then I add a subtitle which clarifies it all.