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.
