Deadlines

'I've spent a great deal of my life waiting for paint to dry,' says Johnny.  While so occupied, he creates mobiles.

Last night, by chance, the 'Exhibition Group' coincided at the Brasserie for early doors.  For the next five and a half months, Clive and Sarah have the interesting task of aligning Johnny with 8th June, E (Exhibition) Day.  One of the challenges being faced, is which paintings will feature in the exhibition.

When all this started two years ago, Johnny was of a mind to hold a retrospective.  It was his seventieth birthday and he was retrospective.  'Let's do it!' said Clive, 'the paintings are painted - all we need is a venue and we're off!'  Bloody marvellous, I thought, no panic about deadlines then.  Since then, Johnny has crept slowly and inexorably, from retrospective to prospective and the knock-on effect is that we have not escaped deadlines at all.

On the plus side, Johnny's Studio is groaning under the load of paintings already completed and (most importantly) in frames, so there can be no twiddling.  There is no shortage of works to hang, however they are not necessarily paintings that Johnny wants to include in the exhibition.

I am told by Johnny that a work that emerges in last minute creative fervour, is known as 'the wet one'. Many famous artists have hung their paintings in this state.  Apparently, in the days of Constable and Turner, the Royal Academy gave artists a day's grace, after hanging, to add finishing touches to their paintings. The rivalry between Turner and Constable was intense and the story goes that Turner was dismayed by the quality and significance of Constable's painting 'the Opening of Waterloo Bridge'.  His own work, the seascape 'Helvoetsluys' seemed dull by comparison.  However, not to be outdone, at the last minute, Turner added a bright red buoy to the foreground of his shades of North Sea-grey painting and won the day.  Apparently he was proving a point that less is more and by comparison Constable's painting seemed overworked and busy.  Unfortunately, he lends weight to Johnny's 'crucial mark in last minute' attitude - it's hard to argue with Turner.

Thankfully, Big Foot is glazed, because if it wasn't and was still a work in progress, I feel it could well have been 'the one'.  I know that we are not safe from 'the one' and as I write, somewhere in the Studio, or in Johnny's subconscious lurks 'the one' that will drive all those involved in meeting deadlines bonkers.

One of these?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1215250/Revealed-180-years-The-Turner-painting-upstaged-Constable-reignited-rivalry-painters.html