CHAPTER 1

MATERIALS AND THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT

'I'm just standing on the shoulders of giants for a better view.'

Mark Stopforth

First, we will look into the materials you will need to source, as well as looking into the studio environment and how that creates a conducive space in which to create art in the alla prima style.

The customary mess and detritus of the studio with pictures for inspiration. It should not be underestimated how valuable those pictures are, they can often be the starting point for new paintings.

THE STUDIO

My needs are humble ones, though the studio is my most cherished investment yet and one which I don't take for granted. I spent many a year in a spare room on a side table, head down in a painting. As you might expect, carpets have been ruined and walls have been stained, most notably one bottle of Indian ink that went flying and took more than one coat of emulsion to see off. Not my finest hour.

The studio is my bolt hole, my head space where I go and switch on. I could go further and say the piece of taped white paper on the table is just that as well. The studio is also a cabinet of curiosities that contains many objects that are held and cherished: black Norfolk flints, a Mesolithic scraper, a small Buddha in a box, seed heads, a prism, two bat skeletons, amber stones with flies trapped in their translucent resin, fossils aplenty and so the list goes on, along with books for both reference and escape. I'm not suggesting that you, the reader, go out and locate the self-same objects; that would just be odd. The point is you may have your own store of objects that have significance to you, and they add colour to your studio, shelf in the spare room, or box under the bed. My studio space would be all the duller without them.

The paint box, which has travelled far; very useful for plein air painting or workshops.

My library is more practical in that if I need to reference an artist or painting, then I know it's to hand and reproductions in books are so much more vital and alive to the eye than a small handheld screen that has only 2 per cent power left, and the charger is not to be found. I also can obsess and hold a picture in my mind's eye after hours of poring over an image; Caravaggio's The Betrayal of Christ is just such a painting. It's clearly not a skyscape or a seascape, and yet this one painting stayed with me for weeks and still has a large pull on my imagination and emotions. It's a piece of high drama masterfully rendered in a chiaroscuro light (we shall look at this further under the heading of Nocturnes), where the detailing is exquisite, and the compositional structure leads the eye across the theatre of betrayal perfectly captured in oil. This painting would find its influence within my own works along with the knowledge of Leonardo's sfumato or Rothko's shimmering horizons and the free calligraphic mark making of Twombly and others.

The library is a well from which to draw inspiration and should never be underestimated. My own studio has shelves where I keep old work. I never throw out old paintings as they can still prove productive. I often like to select a small section, cut that out and then use those 'fragments' for both inspiration and reference, as well as being small affordable works that can be sold. Within the studio there is a small and very comfortable mid-century chair, which says more about me than the sofa, where the dog can often be found, chasing cars and pigeons in his sleep.

The library is a must for seeking inspiration or just having a chilled moment in between paintings.

There are certain books which I couldn't do without. I am a keen collector of anything to do with Samuel Beckett. An unread book is just a sign that you believe in a time without end.

Work is hung on the walls and played with in varying combinations to see, more often than not, if one piece works well next to another. There is also the usual collections of postcards and posters that talk of my travels to galleries both near and far. So that, in a nutshell, is my space in which I like to work. It's the perfect garden office and the commute is not too bad either.

Sofa with dog. A dog isn't mandatory but it does help.

The commute to work.

THE ESSENTIALS

Space

Before starting, it cannot be emphasised enough that you need a calm, quiet space where there will be no interruptions for an hour or two. Alla prima as a technique is fast, intense and highly rewarding. I usually work with some music or my favourite podcast in the background. This is not a form of distraction for entertainment purposes - it's more a case of giving the mind, the ego, if you will, time off with some white noise to oil those synaptic nerve endings which rely on instant decision making, thereby facilitating any moments of intuition and inspiration that might come my way. Does it become a form of meditation? I think there's an element of that as, when you're in the moment, time no longer matters. If you can enter that state of letting go, then nothing else matters and your work will reflect those moments, where you, the paint and the work are one and the same, all moving in the same direction.

A flat, hard surface

Working on paper, I invariably have the work taped to the table, so I am horizontally looking down onto it and there is no chance of the paint dripping. The pigment may pool a little on the paper, but that can be used to our advantage (see Chapter 2). I only ever work vertically when painting on canvas, as then I do like to see the pours and drips of paint work to my advantage. Be mindful also that there is a strong chance that the area where you are working may become messy; in fact if we are painting in the alla prima style then mess is a definite given.

I often look at my work table and think it should be considered as some form of abstract expressionist art piece that contains a history of every painting created upon it and is obviously very personal to me. Before taping any paper down, always be mindful of any stray lumps and bumps underneath, as you want the paper to be as flat as possible. Any lumps and bumps will only annoy and frustrate later in the proceedings.

The worktop surface. It needs to be flat, smooth and able to take tape when used. A plastic finish would be hard to apply tape to.

Taking on the patina of past paintings. Ever-evolving as a work of art in its own right.

Lighting

It sounds obvious but I always prefer painting under natural light as opposed to artificial. Natural light lets the oils show off their true depth of colour and luminosity, which is what we want. This is quite important when layering and blending the colours, as you need to see clearly how they are working together. I've often worked through a winter's evening or day under halogen lights and thought that I've created 'a keeper', only to find out the next day under natural light that it was anything but. If natural light is hard to come by, then investing in a daylight bulb works wonders.

Skylight. Natural light is always the artist's preferred choice of lighting.

Paper

Paper comes in a vast range of weights, textures, sizes, acid-free, non-acid free, recycled, non-recycled, and so on. I'm going to keep this simple. For weight, a sheet or sketch pad that is 250gsm is perfect. The term 'gsm' simply stands for 'grams per square metre' and is used for measuring paper weight. Put simply, if you were to take a 1m² piece of a certain type of paper, how much would it weigh in grams? If the paper feels sturdy and of good quality, then you can't go wrong and some of the best paper is recycled. I like to feel the paper, when purchasing large individual sheets. It can raise some eyebrows and sideways glances, but you don't want to spend money unnecessarily on something that you know won't do the job. Fabriano Academia is my go-to, and it must be smooth. The paper needs to let the pigment soak in and hold it within the fibres. If the paper has a texture to it then you will only encounter problems such as overworking the paints, which then go sludgy, or destroying the kitchen towels or tissues when working over the surface. Having said that, please feel free to try out other paper weights and brands. Card can be very rewarding, though you must be aware that it will react in a completely different way. In the studio, I start work on a fresh sheet to hand, not really caring about its weight or if it's acid free, etc., and then reacting to how the paper is when I apply the paint and white spirit.

I'm often asked about the paper disintegrating over time. I don't have a problem with it as the paper will outlast me, after that it's over to the conservators if indeed that should be necessary. The last word of note on paper. Find what suits you and then try other surfaces; it's so important to build your confidence levels first.

Oils

I'm not sure if oil as a medium was one I chose, or if indeed it chose me. Oils are so rich and malleable that they were always going to be hard to ignore. I admire anyone who can master watercolours and acrylics as I never could, or at least my expectations weren't matched by the results of my efforts. Indian inks come some way to getting to where I want, which is a depth of field that draws you into the...