Art Blog
David Cottingham Latest News and Blog
Blues for Pablo : My week in View
This last few weeks several different influences have occurred simultaneously in my work. Thinking about Picasso, over 40 years after his death he is still very much all around us. Last week one of his works achieved the highest ever price at auction, an...
Mirror Image : My Week in View
The sea is a mirror of the sky. The land is a mirror of the light. So much of what we see are reflections of something else, even of our personality. I am fascinated by this duality both of perception and action. We are always observing horizons, that vanishing point...
Greek Beauty : My Week in View
This week a superlative show of Greek art at the British Museum was a revelation. Its focus is on the sensuality and humanity of the body depicted in Classical Greek sculpture. This was the first time in art that nudity was celebrated for its own sake,...
Returning to the Studio : My Week in View
After an enforced break, this month I am back in the studio and very much enjoying working again. Since the end of last year I have been letting other influences flow over me including two visits to the wonderful Turner exhibition at Tate Britain “Painting Set Free”,...
A Year in View
Thank you to you all for your support and interest in my work this year. It has been a very busy, emotional and creative year for me, ending with a successful and very well received show at the Calken Gallery. It was particularly enjoyable to work with Vanessa Clark...
November 2014 Exhibition : “poetic liberation of the spirit”
Vanessa Clark presents: "poetic liberation of the spirit" New Paintings on Canvas and Works on Paper by David Cottingham. Including the launch of the "Broken Hearts" Series. Hosted and Curated by Vanessa Clark for VC Art Exhibition Dates : 19th-25th November Preview...
Its Only Words : My Week in View
Talking about art is often ironic, the work should really speak for itself, or there are two distinct voices going on at the same time which is one original meaning of irony. This week I gave a short talk on my work and then took questions. I am always fascinated to...
Autumnal : My Week in View
The colours are shifting, autumn is in the air, light is lower and golden, my favourite time of the year is here! This week I am showing a painting in a group show in Chelsea organised by the Riverside Art Group. The RIver Thames is a constant theme in my abstract...
Blue for You : My Week in View
Blue is the colour of love, that’s my view. It is the colour of our soulful life, the sky, the sea, the blues are all around us. In art it all began with Lapiz Lazullii, a very rare semi precious mineral. During the middle ages and early Renaissance, the Ultramarine...
Joie de Vivre : My Week in View
After a show I always take stock and reflect on its reception, the people I met along the way and the conversation that ensued. This year we had an overwhelmingly positive reaction to the work and also met so many fabulous folk. It is the unexpected encounters and...
Blues for Pablo : My week in View
This last few weeks several different influences have occurred simultaneously in my work. Thinking about Picasso, over 40 years after his death he is still very much all around us. Last week one of his works achieved the highest ever price at auction, an...
Mirror Image : My Week in View
The sea is a mirror of the sky. The land is a mirror of the light. So much of what we see are reflections of something else, even of our personality. I am fascinated by this duality both of perception and action. We are always observing horizons, that vanishing point...
Greek Beauty : My Week in View
This week a superlative show of Greek art at the British Museum was a revelation. Its focus is on the sensuality and humanity of the body depicted in Classical Greek sculpture. This was the first time in art that nudity was celebrated for its own sake,...
Returning to the Studio : My Week in View
After an enforced break, this month I am back in the studio and very much enjoying working again. Since the end of last year I have been letting other influences flow over me including two visits to the wonderful Turner exhibition at Tate Britain “Painting Set Free”,...
A Year in View
Thank you to you all for your support and interest in my work this year. It has been a very busy, emotional and creative year for me, ending with a successful and very well received show at the Calken Gallery. It was particularly enjoyable to work with Vanessa Clark...
November 2014 Exhibition : “poetic liberation of the spirit”
Vanessa Clark presents: "poetic liberation of the spirit" New Paintings on Canvas and Works on Paper by David Cottingham. Including the launch of the "Broken Hearts" Series. Hosted and Curated by Vanessa Clark for VC Art Exhibition Dates : 19th-25th November Preview...
Its Only Words : My Week in View
Talking about art is often ironic, the work should really speak for itself, or there are two distinct voices going on at the same time which is one original meaning of irony. This week I gave a short talk on my work and then took questions. I am always fascinated to...
Autumnal : My Week in View
The colours are shifting, autumn is in the air, light is lower and golden, my favourite time of the year is here! This week I am showing a painting in a group show in Chelsea organised by the Riverside Art Group. The RIver Thames is a constant theme in my abstract...
Blue for You : My Week in View
Blue is the colour of love, that’s my view. It is the colour of our soulful life, the sky, the sea, the blues are all around us. In art it all began with Lapiz Lazullii, a very rare semi precious mineral. During the middle ages and early Renaissance, the Ultramarine...
Joie de Vivre : My Week in View
After a show I always take stock and reflect on its reception, the people I met along the way and the conversation that ensued. This year we had an overwhelmingly positive reaction to the work and also met so many fabulous folk. It is the unexpected encounters and...
Dancing in the Dark
"From the Darkness, Sunrise and Rain". Two Panels on Canvas Summer is hovering around us, not sure whether it has anything seasonal to wear this year. The longest day passed on a tide of change, the dawning of the age of uncertainty, maybe the 21st Century has finally...
Helios Rising
No two sunrises are the same. The cliche fades when confronted by the beauty of the moment. I recently travelled down to the Kent coast to Margate, where I used to live and where the great Mr Turner used to paint the sometimes glorious skies. As well as a beautiful...
Beyond Byzantium
In his great poem Sailing to Byzantium, WB Yeats addresses growing old and embarks on a late spiritual journey to a poetic paradise. "And therefore I have sailed the seas and come To the holy city of Byzantium". Byzantium was home for a thousand years to a...
Lost in the Dream
Immersing yourself in something creative, be it Music, Books or Movies etc can be a wonderful release. For a while you are somewhere else, a different country, somewhere that time at last stands still. Painting is often like that, a sort of Lucid Dreaming, absorbing...
Light from Lebanon
Every place we visit offers us the gift of Light. Subtle or extreme, no two landscapes have the same relationship with the miracle that is sunlight. With Lebanon still very much in my memory I have revisited a brief trip we made to Byblos. This very ancient city has...
From Lebanon with Love
Returning from a truly memorable exhibition in the beautiful land of Lebanon. The sights and sounds will linger long in our memory. Beirut is the most vibrant and fascinating of cities and we want to return again to explore more of its incredible past and present. We...