PAINTING THEME: The theatricality of modern life.
FUNDAMENTAL STRUCTURES. A basic recurring foundation for a series of paintings.
This painting grew from a feeling of futility after the Kyoto Protocol failed to be ratified. In 1997 it was China that was unwilling to commit. I tried to show a healing force coming through. “Dr No” signifies macho gun-toting mankind. Is it possible to promote a change in the minds of the acquisitive and violent?
Today the United States is the only country that has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, and it later withdrew its signature. The US signed the agreement in 1998, but the Senate did not ratify it due to the Byrd–Hagel resolution. This resolution stated that the US should not sign any protocol that would: Mandate new commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions forAnnex I Parties without also mandating commitments for Developing Country Parties. Result in serious harm to the US economy. Google AI.
The Kyoto Protocol was a historic step in international efforts to address global warming. It combined environmental targets with market-basedmechanisms to reduce the cost of meeting them.
As it was bound for display in a hospital, I felt that “Dr No” had some negative connotations which had to have a positive spin put on them for the hospital audience.
I tried to show a healing force coming through. “Dr No” signifies macho gun-toting mankind. Is it possible to promote a change in the minds of the acquisitive and violent? Unchecked emotions running out of control pose less of a threat without weapons. Gaining consensus on environmental issues is a problem. The men strive to find balance as the robot caretaker of the Earth is rebuked by its finite resources and Guan Yin, the Goddess of Compassion, in- vokes healing amethysts. If local communities collaborate for long term gain, we can thrive. The colour green is an anomaly. Either way we are stuck with it: green signifies Nature’s supremacy or green signifies irradi- ation. The nuclear low carbon answer to generating power relies upon us controlling our emotions and scrupulous planning. Art and health and the health of our world society is all mixed up. @janeostler
"The Time Eating Monster Ate My Time". 2025, oil on canvas.
The inherent sense of chaos in this image reflects the world at the time it was made. Originally satisfied with three or four colours and shapes the work was spare, constrained and elegant in its clean Minimalism. I include a homage to one of Matisse’s "Interior at Nice" paintings. Somehow though, it was not an honest depiction of my state of mind and the art work transitioned from a carefully balanced picture, where a compassionate mid-day assistant-referee impartially observed multiple vulnerable individuals, into this mad dischordant image. Reluctant but desperate to blow the whistle and bring the clashing fantasy of dishevelled chaos to an end, a normally calm demeanour is now struggling to maintain decorum. The energy to harness her self control and bring anachy to an end. The time eating monster is formed from differing ways of using time : baby-like, it is only happy when it’s mouth is filled with working, traveling, caring, sleeping, or occasionally making art.
I am now old enough to have jumped off the conveyor belt of selling my time to satisfy others but this picture is a record of how I was feeling.
"Mops, Mums & Mickey (Mme. Matisse wearing Marigolds)", 2022-2023, watercolour and collage on paper, 58.5 cm H x 76.2 cm W
In this picture I show mopping and wearing yellow Marigold gloves as a way to restore order to a cosmos out of balance, with the mop han- dles as dynamic as lazerbeams, and the mop-men coming to back-up Mme. Matisse. The grocery delivery van is arriving and Mickey Mouse is keeping our spirits up, amongst this eternal drudgery and unrelenting domesticity.
Powys Castle was visited by my mother as a girl. Later I visited it too as an adult. The figure of the older woman is a reference to how my mother could have looked had she not passed away in her 50s. The Spitfire is a reference to Birt, her fiance, who was killed in WW2 and to whom she referred when telling her life story to me. My mother was an actress, and recounted numerous anecdotes about her adventures, both in England and in Burma (Myanmar) in WW2. Tea was drunk in large quantities, and the cups on the steps refer to this activity, something I have been happy to continue.
"Chicken" 2004-2007 oil on canvas 230 cm H x 140 cm W
“Playing chicken” is an idiom that means to engage in a dangerous test of courage or to make mutual threats or challenges in the hopes that the opponent will back down before a collision or conflict. The term originated from a game where two drivers would drive towards each other on a collision course, and the first to swerve would be called a “chicken”. Wikipedia We eat chickens. We don’t respect them much. We use them. Yellow. Traditionally the colour of cowardice and custard. Cowardy, cowardy, custard. Chicken satay on a stick. The blue diamonds come forward. She won’t leap. Learning to dance, safely.
Moving to the country was an ambition, an aspiration, an attempt to have a happy life. The Country is a place that has almost managed to retain a world view of the 1950s. Time moves slowly. Most things are too far away to visit on a whim. Cars wait at roundabouts for years. Crows build nests and the cars wait their turn to join the stream of work or home-bound traffic. It’s a routine. Where is home? Where you can play tennis all day and the Magpies only come in pairs. Champagne air, spotless tarmac you can eat your dinner off, gardens full of self-seeded flowers, days of sunshine, less rain, and silence. I tried to show things that made me feel OK. Blackcurrants used for Ribena are grown in Essex. Matisse stands on his stepladder. The cast concrete steps contain the coastline. The house is green.
The man has a complete body, albeit shrouded in a silk cloth, upon which is painted another face, and an extra hand, holding what looks like a saucepan or magnifying glass. Lighthearted, yet observing a crisis of identity, the woman retains her inner warmth and glow, and wears a buttery yellow skirt, embellished with flowers and a thick layer of oil paint. This piece experiments with surfaces and insubordinates the traditions of canvas painting by casually placing the silk fabric over the top right corner of the canvas and painting onto this unprimed, delicate and expensive surface in oil paint.