top of page

Facet 4 - Not such a still life

Imagine two people standing on top of a 300ft high cliff looking along the coastline with the turbulent sea crashing against the rocks below them.The first person standing there looking at the scene, who internally is together, controlled and serene and at peace with themselves and life finds the external violent action of the waves and wildness of nature in the scene that they are witnessing very disturbing and is fearful and beginning to freak out.The other person next to them is completely the opposite. They have a mind full of the troubles of life, full of anguish and with no peace of mind whatsoever. Yet they look at the scene below of nature's power and beauty and think, 'How wonderful', and for that short moment in time they are surrounded by the sense of place and magnificence of the power of nature and forget the shit (pardon my use of English, I can't think of a better word that sums up the crap (oops) we sometimes have to face) within them.

Facet 4 - Not such a still life

Oil on canvas

48ins x 24ins / 91cm x 61cm 

Facet 8 - The Breaching of the Waters

Another milestone painting for me. The sheer size of the painting and time it took to paint it was a bit daunting.For reasons of my own, I call it my Constantine painting. It was the intermediary painting in the series, before Facet 9 - Blue changed the direction for good. It's title is based on King David's, (in the Old Testament) exclamation of thanks to God for helping him turn the tide of a battle and rescue him, completely defeating his enemies. It signifies that moment in life when we turn a page and escape the detritus that surrounds us and threatens to engulf us, in our lives, and emerge out the other side, victorious and free.

Facet 8 - The Breaching of the Waters

Oil on canvas

55ins x 39ins / 140cm x 100cm

Facet 1 - Orange

This was the first painting in the Facets project. I literally looked around at objects within view, in the studio and the landscape outside. The infamous orange makes its first appearance too. My brother on seeing these paintings a few years later would utter his famous statement "Why the bleeding orange"? I eventually painted a small painting ( see Facets Gallery page) to get it out of my system. The orange has significance, but I'll keep it to myself. It makes a great title though for a chapter in the Facets book. I look at this painting and see something, absolutely central in it. In my life I've sometimes strayed from it, but always returned, like the prodigal son to it - and the older I get, and realise the mistakes I've made, and see people I've known become ill and die, I realise that Faith, and getting right with God is all important. When I was younger, I had an implicit faith in God. Over the years that belief was always there, but, life, my own self-destructiveness, classic back-sliding, knowing, the life God wanted you to lead, but doing the reverse, has been my problem. However, in the last year or so, I've realised that I want to spend the rest of my life getting closer to God. People, who knew me in the past might scoff. It's inevitable, over the years that you upset people and sometimes make enemies. But, I believe, God forgives, and gives those who turn to him, a second chance. Like the prodigal son, when He sees us coming,He comes out to meet us halfway. I hope that people who look at my paintings, even if they hate the God bit, will respect my belief and feelings, but still get something out of the composition and work that's gone into creating these images.

Facet 1 - Orange

Oil on canvas

36ins x 24ins / 91cm x 61cm

Facet 3 - Bowl

Facet 7 - A Glimpse of Angels

I was listening to BBC Radio 4 one day, when a woman came on and recounted the story of how she was pushing her young child in its pushchair along the street and stopped at the corner to chat to some friends. She took her hands off the pushchair's handle as she got involved talking and didn't notice the pushchair with the child in it start to roll towards the edge of the kerb and on to the road and into the path of an on-coming car.She screamed, as the car was about to hit the child, when, from out of nowhere, there came a man who jumped into the road and threw the pushchair back onto the pavement."Thank God, thank God", she cried."Yes indeed", the man replied, and promptly vanished in front of her eyes. She truly believed, she said, that her child's life was saved by the intervention of an angel.

This episode and other stories of angelic intervention were the inspiration for my painting, Facet 7 - A Glimpse of Angels.

Angels are not the fairy-like creatures on top of the Christmas tree, they are God's messengers, powerful beings, intermediaries between God and man, sent from the very presence of God. They bring practical help to those in need. Whether it be David, Daniel, John or Balaam, every time a person in the Bible saw an angel, they were awestruck and often fearful in their presence. Somehow, the misconception of fairy-like creatures with wings has taken hold, I'm as guilty, the figure in my painting sort of typifies this, I've seen too many Pre-Raphaelite paintings, but the reality is that I would probably be awestruck and gobsmacked, and scared proverbially, if I ever encountered one.

I think I remember a story told by Colin Urquhart, the Christian evangelist of a time when on a journey to take a meeting, his car had a flat tyre. Wondering what on earth to do about it and unable to fix it, he saw a man walking towards him. The man without saying anything, fixed the wheel, but instead of walking on in the direction he seemed to be going in, the man promptly walked back the way he had come from. It was as if he'd been sent to fix it. Colin Urquhart, amazed, was then able to get to his meeting.

Do you have any stories of Angels ?

I've painted quite a few paintings in my Glimpse of Angels series of paintings. They'll probably be appearing in a future Art Faith book.

Facet 7 - A Glimpse of Angels

Oil on canvas

36ins x 24ins / 91cm x 61cm

Facet 2 - Jug

Facet 5 - Wave

Very often, God, and His timing in our lives comes in waves ! There's a circle-thing that goes on. You're brought to a place at the right time. It's weird, but wonderful ! Sometimes you have to go through a lot of 'proverbial' to get there ! I certainly have !Everything moves really slowly.............sometimes years go by................and then life speeds up ! And you end up involved in something wonderful.

Facet 6 - Flap

bottom of page