The Circus

For as long as I can remember I have been a regular attender of the circus. The childhood experience involved lots of performing animals; lions, tigers, elephants, horses, dogs  and  even  zebras ,  complemented by the clowns and illuminated with trapeze artists and acrobats . Nowadays the animals have been excluded   from   performances   but  there  are still plenty of circus performers of the human variety.

Back in the mid-70s I spent a summer in Paris  staying with RCA student friends  and we regularly visited the circus school ' Nouveau Carre'  Cirque Gruss  at the Square  Emile-Chautemps';  to draw the performers in action.

Since the early 90s I have regularly revisited the travelling circus when they have come to Plymouth Hoe and Central Park,  ostensibly  to introduce my young son to the joys of the 'Big Top' but more truthfully to satisfy my own interest.  This fascination with the circus has continued to pull me back to observe and draw the action and atmosphere of the' Big Top'. Scribbling away in the semi-darkness, often trying to respond to the movement without looking at the pages of the sketchbook  until  the lights came back on and then wondering if the marks I had made conveyed any recognisable meaning.

Over many years my circus sketchbook has gradually filled up but I was uncertain how to make use of the drawings  until in the summer of 2014 I visited Plymouth Art Gallery  to see a show entitled 'Four Printers' , featuring  Matisse, Dali, Wharhol and Picasso. 

Among Picasso's work I came across two black and white  lino prints, one of a bull fight and one of a circus. It seemed only natural  to follow in the footsteps of the master and transcribe my black/white sketches  into print form.

Experimenting with the lino offered the drawings a new life of their own, dictated by the medium and opened the door to further  possibilities of tonal paintings.