art-beat

art-beat

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Hello, and why

Welcome to my website which serves as home to photographs / scans of drawings, paintings and some silly cartoons I've produced (on and off) since around 1975. Also included are some contributions from my dear and much missed brother Nicholas, (see later). A Blog reflects random observations, rarely if ever linked to any of the art work, including Covid-19 Bike Trips and some commentary on my allotment. The main objective is to bring these pictures together in one place, get them seen by a wider audience than me and my Mum, enjoy a constructive dialogue  with visitors, and continue to add new material and improve.

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Dust and cobwebs

At the time of writing art-beat.co.uk brings together over a hundred drawings and paintings which, with two exceptions in crayon ... cough ... have been produced since the mid-70s. Some of the older material was rescued from dark, dusty and sometimes damp or cobwebbed corners in family attics, garages and cupboards, and in a few cases unfortunately it shows. At an average of around three pictures a year the numbers aren't exactly prolific, though a self-inflicted cull where I weighed them all up, new and old, for either inclusion here, or a return to obscurity, put paid to at least half of the original number. I haven't counted the cartoons but I think they outnumber the drawings and paintings, and they too were subjected to "weeding". No doubt I have wavered here and there in my judgement, and you may find yourself wondering how bad a picture had to be to get excluded. 

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Apart from art

I  feel I should explain a couple of particularly "quiet" periods where I managed to produce staggeringly few, if any, drawings, paintings or cartoons. First was the four or so years immediately after my Art Foundation Course, between 1975 and 1980, when I didn't exactly push on in the world of art. Instead I spent the next eighteen months in Stafford as a Trainee Accountant, (naturally); then I took a "year out" working on a kibbutz in Israel; concluding this period with about eighteen months back in Stafford working as a Computer Operator. The first rung of my career in IT, this allowed me to relocate to London where in my spare time, (or some of it), I rediscovered an appetite for drawing and painting. At about eighteen years in length, from the late 80s to the mid-noughties, the second "lull" was considerably longer, although unlike the late 70s I did actually manage to turn out some pictures. My main focus during this time was getting married, and becoming a proud Dad to two daughters. Now they're all grown up, (how did that happen so quickly?), and since my retirement on August 31st 2018 I find myself with more time. Now it's a question of inspiration.

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A shout for my daughters, and Mick and John

This site was built towards the end of 2019 into 2020 using the Wix website editor. Most of the content pre-dates it's creation, having previously appeared in three Google Blogs which, now moth-balled, were separately home to most of the material here. The decision to migrate from that free but limited set-up to a more sophisticated website was based upon encouragement and support from my daughters Zoë and Caitlin, and friends Mick Gorton and John Royle, and consequently a better understanding of access to richer functionality, the potential for improved internet exposure, easier user navigation and a better all round user experience. My thanks then to them for generously giving their time and sharing their knowledge.

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Looking forward

From a content point of view I hope this website is far from finished. I'm not sure I can say the same for the design and functionality of the site itself. Wix alone provide many Apps, such as the Gallery used here, and in the future I may take a closer look at some of the others which include social tools for sharing and automated alerts for updates. A number of companies offer the option of an online shop for selling artwork - see later.

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Nicholas

Pictures appear here drawn / painted by my late brother during weekly sessions with the art group at New Direction in Stafford. He received excellent support from staff there, including Kim Walker, and derived a great deal of satisfaction from being involved in the creation of an end product that he could take home and show to his Mum, family and friends. R.I.P. Nicholas, who passed away on July 12th 2021. 

 

A word of warning

The cartoons are all nonsense, and shouldn't be taken seriously. This said, you may find one or two of them a bit, erm,  wince-inducing, and I apologise in advance if any cause offence. Fingers crossed some raise a smile, though I suspect a groan is more likely. If you find yourself laughing at my drawings and / or paintings then that's not so great, though to be fair you might be looking at my attempt at a self portrait! 

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For now​

I hope you find something you like here, and that you come back from time-to-time to check for new stuff. 

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To finish, or maybe not ...

I find the hardest part of doing a drawing or a painting is knowing when to stop. I think that's why I rather like a quote I heard from John Cooper Clark who in an interview in 2018 said "No poem is ever finished, it is merely abandoned", conceding an inclination to rework or tweak parts of old poems before recitals. I should perhaps add that quite a number of people are credited with this quote, and similar, including Leonardo Da Vinci for art specifically. 

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David, January 6th 2020