January Letter
January
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I
So far my sense of January is that it will be (fortunately) less cold than late December but also quite blustery and rainy. There have already been a few “wild nights” of tumultuous weather reeling around this house since the year turned. And I, much like many, am keeping indoors and a low profile in this period.
If the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve is a curious out-of-time period the first few weeks of January are the probably the starkest, emptiest days of any given year. This isn’t always a bad thing, as that emptiness feels appropriate as we all feel our way forward, but the austerity of this time always chills me slightly nevertheless.
I am however feeling inspired artistically in this period and have already pressed forward with three large canvas pictures. I only had four spare canvases so once that last one is filled I shall moved on to the rather extensive collection I’ve accumulated over the last two years of high quality watercolour paper and the like.
II
In my first December newsletter I looked back and reviewed my 2022 (in terms of art-based favourites) and in this newsletter I would like to look forward to what my intentions are for 2023!
I hesitate to use the word “resolutions” as for me this unfolding process year by year represents exploration and evolution and I don’t want to reduce all that down to a tick- box list!
But I do have intentions for 2023 (just two!), based very much on what I feel are the logical next steps for me with regards to art. The first one is something I have already begun to do behind the scenes, and that is create original pieces and although that is an aspect of my art practise still in an early phase it shall be integral to everything I mean to do going forward.
This coming year I shall be maintaining my sketchbook work as far as possible but I really want to do more pieces on paper and canvas that are meant as finished pieces and that are, in certain if not all cases, produced on a larger scale.
So how I envisage things progressing in the next few months is: original work additions to the website shop and also, alongside that, regular additions to the print section of the website as at present only a fraction of my work is on offer in print form (although any piece is available on request).
So to boil it down:1. Expansion of original work and shop and 2. Expansion of print shop
And although these are “business” goals in a sense what I want personally out of all of this is to find a rhythm and the right materials (for me) re: my original pieces so that will entail a lot of experimentation no doubt! I already know that expansion is right for me in terms of scale as although I will always enjoy working small I am really enjoying these current larger pieces.
III
“Every shrub and tree was an individual presence, a distinct, daring essay in self-expression. The big eucalyptus and the palm stood up like statements apparently contradictory yet confirming each other." Christopher Isherwood, Diaries, Vol. 1.
Beyond the business side of things I am excited to expand on the subjects I’ve touched on thus far in my work – whilst of course maintaining my foundational interest in all things botanical.
The botanical aspect has always been a central element in my work but in the last year I have been trying out new subjects and styles and materials and pushing my previous boundaries as far as possible.
In 2023 I really hope to incorporate much of what I’ve learnt in these excursions beyond my usual subjects and for me that means essentially holding onto the botanical aspect that I find perennially (pun intended!) inspiring but combining it with more illustrative motifs, portraits, animals, narrative scenes, and for me, the most exciting part, is attempting to create a body of work that expresses a poetical, suggestive sense of a unique personalised world.
This “world-building” is what attracts me to the artists I like: the sense of a unique world, or a transformative vision of the world, usually skewed or adjusted in a way so not plainly realistic. It is this indefinable something, sometimes described as a style (but really enshrined in more than merely a style) that makes of a technician an “artist”.
IV
Art Objects:
Something I want to try in future newsletters is miniature studies of various art objects whether “art materials” or “art creations.” And this time I want to briefly consider a cache of “The Great Artist” magazines I discovered when clearing the attic in my previous house at the mid point of this year. Many things in the attic that were paper or cloth-based were in less than stellar condition but these magazines, covering everyone from Michelangelo to Matisse, were a reminder of an era when people educated themselves in an extracurricular manner by way of subscriptions or devotion to magazines and the like.
Of course, such things can be dismissed today as they might seem reductive and simplistic but there was something to admire about the earnest and meticulous overview of art history and “great” paintings such magazines could provide to the curious. At worst, they could spark an interest in art and a little rudimentary grounding in the subject. And with their centrefolds of selected “masterpieces” they encouraged a reader to focus in and look at famous pictures at leisure, a very unique pleasure and practise that is rarely available outside a more specialist setting. Although they are easily dismissed as relics of a more basic pre-digital era I have a lot of affection for these magazines. I remember in the earliest phase of my college education I was primarily interested in “art history” and these magazines were partially responsible for that interest.
V
A reminder to check out my website shop at davidmonteiroart.com. Or follow the link in my instagram bio. I have a good number of prints available – some landscape, some botanic, some animal. Details of my printer supplier is featured with each listing.
UK and EU deliveries are custom free, and best of all deliveries are free in every area I currently deliver to: the EU, the UK, the US and Canada.
VI
This newsletter will continue on a monthly basis (with occasional extras here and there when relevant). In the mean time if you are reading please subscribe to the monthly newsletter and if you want to buy me a coffee on Ko-fi at this link (https://ko-fi.com/davidmonteiro) it would be much appreciated so I can evolve and develop my practise. Many thanks.
