in situ

in situ

Getting colder... snow on the hills - studio temperature tumbling - the next 2/3 months up there are not for the faint hearted. Went to Pissignano antiques market yesterday, picked up a couple of interesting rusty nails :). Each to his own

that's not cricket

dead man walking

I've been working across a range of media recently - and was getting quite excited about the avalanche of ideas Ive been having of late. And then... after enjoying reading an article about Antony Gormley's new monumental work at the White Cube I made the mistake of scrolling through some of the comments. It really made my heart sink (though it came as no surprise, one comes up against it constantly). However... to think that after over 100 years of what might loosely be termed "modern art" there are still people out there who make comments about their five year olds being able to do better and so forth. So it was with a heavy heart I turned to the vandalism of the Rothko at the Tate, and there they were again. (note to self - stop reading the comments). Anyway it made me wonder for a moment if in fact the "modern art" had failed in some way given the vast swathes of the population who really prefer a badly rendered landscape or demurely pouting airbrushed young thing strategically draped. But then it's not meant to be an educational tool as such, it has no "duty" enlighten the likes of the afore mentioned (though a few conversions would help).  Strange isn't it how these people feel absolutely no embarrassment or shame for their rudeness -which is what it is. Healthy, criticism nobody minds - I wonder how they would react of the the same banal comment were leveled at them and their lives work. I have decided to lump them into the category I have for X factor and I'm a celebrity...  and carry on undaunted. Buona Domenica

pucker up

pucker up

runner

Starting to get back to work in the studio, feels good to have what's been rattling around in my head while we've been picking olives starting to out itself in quite a surprising eclectic mix of forms.  Some material lead others more abstract than i have been working on in the past months. With a bit of photography thrown in. Interesting...

La Raccolta

Paper hands (collage and acrylic on canvas) 2012

Autumn in Umbria never stops. There are more festa's than you can shake a stick at and what starts with the Vendemmia (grape harvest) finishes with La Raccolta (the olive harvest)  with a smattering of chestnut gathering in between (this no doubt has a name of its own but it unknown to me). We are busily picking olives which is a pleasurable task but I am itching to get back to the studio.

Novello d'Autore 2012 di Di Filippo

Novello d'Autore 2012 di Di Filippo

On Saturday we went to Perugia to the glam Palazzo Priori for launch of the Novello of Di Filippo wines who are based here in Umbria. Six of my paintings feature as the labels. It was really lovely evening almost because I was persuaded to speak for some time in Italian about the works, not for the faint hearted. The wine is available from tomorrow - 6 November. All the works are available on my website www.rkwilliams.com together with other works I made as part of this series.

In a spin

Head - oil on gessoed paper 2010

All go. Finishing the framing of the Di Filippo wines Novello d'Autore paintings for Saturday evening's launch in Perugia.

being watched

standing stone

Still fixating on Mt Subasio above Assisi, there is something so open about the the place so disturbingly vacant, soleless and wild and yet all  there is this hidden or semi hidden humanity. You can be alone up there but it always feels to me as if you're being watched. It really is the stuff of Peter Cushing....