Behind this story is a couple for whom I had done some portrait commissions. I trust they wouldn’t mind being described as Bohemian. Following on from their portraits, they surprised me with an offer to stay in their holiday cottage, in exchange for a couple of local paintings.

It was 2022, we were having a pretty miserable time as a family, coaxing my son Leon to revise for GCSEs, Izzi was in her first year of A levels, and we were reeling from homeschooling three children through the pandemic. The break was just what we needed, much fresh air and revision happened - here’s a video I made from that trip:

Roll forward two years, and the same couple offered again. This time, in exchange for a landscape painting to sit over the sofa in their holiday cottage.

It was the Easter holidays - Leon was doing a college project, and Izzi was revising for her first year uni exams. So we packed the laptops and easel, and headed back to the cottage. Set right on the South West Coastal Path, it felt like home from home. It was a wonderful time of glorious isolation - the change of scenery enabled more revision, and more painting.

After a few days, Marcus took the children back to Bristol, and Julie Dunster arrived for our ‘residency’. Julie is a dear friend, and a very experienced plein air artist, with a phenomenal work ethic and consequently well thought out kit. I have a more sporadic and, er, less focussed practice, but we match (and multiply) each other’s enthusiasm.

Julie and I had early mornings, early nights, and a lot of flasks of tea! One day I put my easel up a few metres away from her above Prawle Point… when I’d finished painting, I went back to see how she was getting on, and to our surprise we realised a rabbit had been dropped (presumably by a bird of prey) on the path behind her, some time after her arrival. So I happily sketched the unfortunate but very fresh rabbit while Julie finished painting.

Before packing up, we set all our paintings out for a very private Private View - with just one visitor (my collector, seen painting the edges of his new aquisition!).

I will never forget the wonderful impetus of painting alongside a friend, away from regular responsibilities, throwing ourselves into the landscape from dawn till dusk. Having the trust and backing of our hosts was such a positive ingredient. As any artist knows, mindset is a major factor - their confidence and enthusiasm made a big difference to what I produced.

I hope this can serve as inspiration for anyone interested in arranging an informal artist residency as a mutually beneficial act of patronage, with me or someone else! It was a great framework.

Here is Greg Rook’s article on contemporary patronage ideas:

Blackbird Rook’s Substack

The New Patronage, or Fantasy Football For Collectors

There is no great mystery about why so many artists struggle. The stranger thing is why, in a culture so swollen with money, so few people have thought to make supporting artists into a mark of status again…

Read more

a month ago · 36 likes · 22 comments · Blackbird Rook

North Street Gallery, Bristol, until 26th April - a group show including a collection of my oil paintings, and a browser full of sketches. Including the smaller Raft Of The Medusa painting. Open Thurs - Sun, 11-5pm. Also available from this catalogue.

23rd - 27th June - The Society of Women Artists 165th annual exhibition (Mall Galleries, London). Nb 1: Quirky opening times . Nb 2: Let me know if you’d like a ticket for the private view.

27th June, afternoon - live portrait demo at the SWA show (above)

“Sharing a simple approach for capturing a quick likeness, and the essence of a sitter,
using the most basic materials. Gail will introduce her materials, followed by a series of 20 minute portrait sketches from life, explaining the process throughout. There will be a small number of slots for sitters with the option of the portraits being available to take away at the end of the day. An optional donation to this year’s charity would be very welcome.”

15th August - 6th September Knepp Wilding Estate (show info here)

A Solo exhibition of Dungscape - the canvases, sketches, and concertina sketchbook. Also my large framed Snails and Slugs, hopefully linocuts, and definitely entomological specimens. There will be a PV on 15th August, possibly a talk, possibly dinner event. details tbc. Highly recommend checking out their website for glamping, safaris, and lots of other events. Accommodation gets very booked up if you are thinking of making a weekend of it.

5th - 14th June - Willway Yard

A group show “Bristol Landscapes & Gardens” by Bristol Plein Air Painters.

1st week of October SWLA annual show The Natural Eye (Mall Galleries, London)

Exhibition of Dungscape canvases and sketches, as a bursary award winner.

All artists appreciate people taking the trouble to visit their shows. It is always a delight for me, and never an obligation for you.

Please do let me know if you are ever planning to visit a show I’m in, and would like to meet up - I will try to arrange to be in the gallery when you come, so I can greet you and personally show you round, with as much simpering as your heart desires!

Wishing you a very happy Easter Monday, and a good week ahead,

Gail x

Erica is Principal Curator of flies and fleas at The Natural History Museum in London, and a regular face at Knepp Wilding Estate (where Dungscape is set). She is a most engaging speaker, author, and the referee of my bursary project.

Here’s a taste of the work we’ve been doing, hope you can tune in on Tuesday:

Wherever and whatever I’m drawing, these are my trusty steeds:

1 - Kraft Paper

Like traditional parcel paper, this drawing surface is a warm mid-tone, which is easy on the eye, and gives you a timesaving head start for sketching. The slightly ribbed texture ‘grips’ the pencil pigment well, and gives a cool corduroy effect in evenly shaded areas. Kraft paper has a matte and a shiny side (I use the matte side, which picks up the pencil pigment slightly better, but is less easy to erase from) - it’s so cheap you can experiment freely!

My favourite sketching paper

Available in 100 sheet pads of different sizes here from Cass Art

2 - Derwent Drawing Pencils

Derwent make these ‘Drawing’ pencils, which I have used for years. They are highly pigmented, and slightly waxy, so they don’t smudge or come off on, say, a cellophane cover. But when lightly applied they can be lifted with a putty rubber. Some colours only get used occasionally, but I order the ones that I get through quicker using Derwent’s handy ‘build your own tin’ feature.

Using the pencils and paper

I usually start with Warm Earth (it’s a close match to the paper, so is great for mapping out shapes inconspicuously), then work out to lighter and darker values from there. For portraits I use ‘Ink Blue’ to reinforce some outlines at the end, and to hatch in a background - the cool blue colour contrasts with any skin or hair colour, so helps offset the main drawing:

Nb Warm Earth initial shapes (and hair), Ink Blue outline, and corrugation effect

There is a great range of warm and cool colours, which I would describe as harmoniously natural earthy hues, equally suited to portraits and landscapes. They can be mixed in layers - I’m particularly fond of using the ‘Ink Blue’ as a sky underlayer, laid down lightly. Blending white over the top makes a surprisingly intense sky colour, by virtue of those strong pigments:

Nb intense sky colours by blending

Rather infuriatingly for those of us who can spend weeks on a single piece, when sketching you can casually knock out some of your best work. If you’re in public, it’s a wonderful feeling when someone comments positively on your sketch. Nice presentation can bring out the beauty and truth in a humble drawing. So here are some ideas to package and present your sketches on the spot, and to frame them economically (should you get home from your expedition and discover a gem languishing in that sketchbook!)…

3 - Mount Kits

Brampton Picture Framing do these really practical, good value mount kits. They can be cut bespoke, but I like to buy them in standard size packs. They include a sturdy self-seal cellophane bag, good quality Larson-Juhl mounts (computer cut), and a piece of Larson-Juhl backing board. These kits are great for quickly packing the portraits up, they look really professional. They’re also perfect for presenting unframed work in browsers at events like Open Studios.

Using the Mount Kits

In preparation for a professional sketching event I tape a sheet of Kraft paper carefully (absolutely central) to each kit backing board, and put my brand stickers on the outside back of each kit cellophane bag. When I’m sketching, I use the backing board as a drawing board, with the paper already stuck to it. Then when the sketch is finished, I simply lay a kit mount card on top to ‘frame’ it, and put them sandwiched together into the bag. I pop a Certificate Of Authenticity inside, and seal it closed with the adhesive strip, so it is neat, protected and looks the part for handing to the client.

4 - Online frames in standard sizes

The advantage of using standard paper sizes is that you can buy (or keep a small stock of) standard frames that match perfectly. Personally I like the constraint of having a ‘regular’ paper size, it is a gentle challenge to plan the composition to sit well within the bounds of the page, and has taught me the discipline to avoid ‘scope creep’.

The Frame Company are great to deal with, reliable, and I love their Campbell warm grey frames. For white frames I use the Franklin moulding. Both are made from sustainably sourced pine. You can optionally order mount card with the frames. There are plenty different mouldings, and custom sizes available if needed.

I keep a small stock in the following sizes:

A quick sketch portrait, brought to life with mount and frame

5 - The personal touch

Most artists have one or two beloved unique tools that have been made by, or inherited from, their ‘art family’. Pencil rolls keep your pencils safe and organised, with room for different bits and bobs. Mine was a handmade gift from my daughter (she’s not taking commissions!), but look out for independent companies who sell handmade artist rolls, or head to Pinterest for patterns and make your own.

6 - Positivity

For pressure-free sketching you need reliable materials that don’t cost the earth. You can grab them at a moment’s notice, knowing you haven’t risked too much if it doesn’t work out. I find this happy, ‘abundant’ mindset is a key ingredient on any sketching expedition. So ditch the monkey on your shoulder, perch yourself on a convenient tuffet, get in the zone and churn them out - just remember to set an alarm in case you get carried away!

If you love sketches, follow me on Instagram here, and if you see something you like I sell ‘off the pad’ sketches very economically here:

For the second year running I had a portrait digitally pre-selected through the first round of judging for the Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ annual open call. So for the second year running, took it to London for ‘in real life judging’. No cigar. Cue ‘walk of shame’ (collecting from the back entrance of The Mall Galleries 3 days later and carting it back to Bristol). Notwithstanding simply feeling very lucky to be healthy and free, this year I did three things that softened the blow of rejection:

1. Not publicising the pre-selection (so I didn’t have to tell people about the rejection - getting pre-selected is so difficult that many established artists have taken to announcing it).

2. I had the joy of a day out in London with my sitter Cato Pedder - we handed the portrait in together. One of the Mall Gallery ‘receivers’ exclaimed in complimentary tones about seeing Cato next to her portrait, and took this lovely photo:

   

3. I had it collected and driven back to Bristol by Art Moves of Chelsea. This was my first time using their (collect and deliver) service that runs between several cities and large open exhibitions. Instead of going back to London, I met the Art Moves van in a forecourt beside my local Royal West of England Academy. I was able to collect for a friend whose painting was also rejected. And met an artist whose work I really like, and who’s been in the RP show many times, retrieving his wonderful portrait from the same fate as mine. And bumped into another friend sending a painting up for another show. So really quite a validating experience.

I was aired by the Royal Portrait Society writing prize, but to be honest my application, a piece on The Male Gaze, was probably poking the bear. There was no acknowledgement of my entry, nor the usual Dear John letter about number of high quality entries, difficulty selecting, etc that characterise open call rejections. The published winners will produce something well worth reading - the essays are usually really good, and the show itself is incredible.

I was however very sad to miss out on the The Colab residency. This is only the 2nd time I’ve applied for a residency, I had to have two ‘referees’ supporting my application. Both are artists I admire, with impressive credentials. On messaging them to let them know their services wouldn’t be required, I received such encouraging replies, including “I definitely apply for way more things than I get!”.

To add to my good cheer, there are 3 commissions to work on, more applications pending, an exhibition on the go, and a temporary new soapbox:

Exhibition and Meet The Artists event

The group Spring exhibition at North Street Gallery is open until the end of April. I’m really enjoying showing work there - as an exhibitor in the group show, artists undertake to be on the stewarding rota. It’s been fascinating seeing behind the scenes at a gallery, and lovely to meet and talk with visitors. Also interesting to see different buying styles, from protracted to decisive!

I have been touched by the number of you who’ve gone out of your way to visit the show, thank you so much. And thank you to the mystery gifter - I will be treating myself to some new materials very soon.

If you can’t make it in person, my work is available to browse online here. The Equinox Bristol Gallery Weekend is this weekend, there are some brilliant demos, tours etc across Bristol Galleries, including (you are welcome of course) in North Street Gallery on Saturday afternoon.

SWLA Instagram takeover

As Dungscape is the winner of the Society of Wild Life Artists Bursary award, I have been given the reins of their Instagram account for March. It is such a great account, with a big audience. An opportunity to share Dungscape with a much wider audience, and also to slip in some exposure for other wildlife artists and galleries.

Dungscape ‘Turnered’ a corner recently, as I went to visit the Turner & Constable show at the Tate. Seeing Turner’s experimentation, and control of light, really helped me unlock the problem with the middle ground.

I was stuck trying to get the flying insects to show up against a background of grass. Inspired by Turner, a much bolder streak of light now offsets the Purple Emperor butterfly, and is ready to receive the dungflies and other beauties.

I’m excited to have new toys to play with - some homemade impasto medium from the brilliant artist Laura Williams , and iridescent paint which will be the finishing touch on the swallow, butterfly and beetles.

Out and about

Here are a few snaps from the last month, including several exhibitions still open:

• A taste of Rose Wylie

• Sketching at a free portrait event organised by Bristol Women’s Voices for International Womens Day

• Mounira Al Solh at The Arnolfini until 24th May

• Michele Ashby demonstrating in The SGFA show at The Mall Galleries

• Louisa Crispin at The SGFA show in The Mall Galleries

• Boxing themed life drawing session at Hamilton House with Bristol Life Drawing

• Yeside Linney (also Louisa Crispin and others) at Sandra Higgins Gallery (Bath) until 28th March

• Jacqueline Hammond and a collective showing botanical work in Stroud until 22nd March.

Thanks for reading, have a great week,

Gail

PS have you seen the Rose Wylie show at the Royal Academy? If so what did you think? I don’t get it, but the reviews are mostly gushing…

Shown at the Society of Women Artists annual exhibition, where of course there was much lived experience and familiarity with the positives and negatives that are laid out in my painting.

Invited to represent those experiences, and juxtaposed on the canvas with quotations from the work of several historic women artists, the models hadn’t met each other until this moment. I have more footage to edit, but wanted to share this first. Not least because (attention women artists!) the open call for this year’s show closes on Saturday.

I thank (Vice President of the SWA) for taking this footage. Check her Substack out - Anne published a very interesting article on whether there is still a need for a Society of Women Artists. This video is my answer.

You’re not allowed to take photos in The Prado. I was grateful for this by the end. It helped me be present to the paintings, trying to sear them into my memory. The only better way I know of learning directly from the canon is to physically copy.

I guess that before cameras, this conscious searing (and copying) was what artists did on their research trips. Poor Velázquez was only let out of the Madrid palace twice to go to Italy, where he copied Tintoretto, Raphael, Michaelangelo… trips that levelled up his studio and painting practice.

I go to galleries to get fuel in my creative tank from the art on display. To see the brushstrokes, colours, and scale of artworks that can’t be appreciated via books or screens. In Madrid I wanted to tap into the inspirational ideas and expressive compositions of big hitters - Velazquez, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and their ilk. But the big hitters came ‘with benefits’.

Looking at the historic collections in Spain, I sensed the <insert collective noun> of artists working in parallel, and through time. I felt part of a continuum - learning from each other, competing, consolidating, breaking new ground and representing our era. All drinking from, and pouring into, the same infinite swirling pool. The concept of an infinite pool isn’t new or original - see Marquis de Condorcet’s Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind

Scientists, authors, composers, entrepreneurs - whatever and however we ‘make’, ideas that were born long ago crystalise in the moment, and continue to evolve after the paint is dry. The ideas aren’t unique or original, but clutched and ordered by someone, and set down to the best of their ability. A relatively tiny individual perspective, a bleat into the wind, from their era to the future.

Chewing over what I saw, it struck me that people engage with the pool in specific ways:

• Trailblazers pour in a technical advance (Seurat’s optical mixing, Brunelleschi’s linear perspective), a conceptual approach (Emin’s confessional work, Monet’s series of a single subject in different lighting - haystacks/Rouen Cathedral) or a new audacious visual language (Hilda af Klimt, Hieronymous Bosch, L.S. Lowry). They resist stylistic smoothing by peers and audience, obsessively forging their work on a private beach on the edge of the pool. They throw in big rocks, making conspicuous changes to the landscape, causing infinite ripples. In the Reina Sofia I was surprised to see Dali’s transition laid out from realism via cubism to surrealism.

• Anyone creative builds on, and contributes to, the ideas in the pool in some way. For me that is the definition of creativity. Sometimes, when quoting the work of others, artists accede to the moral obligation to give credit. Seeing Picasso’s Guernica in the Reina Sofía museum, I was immediately struck by his brilliant sampling and recontextualising of Kollwitz’ “Woman with a dead child”. There is no record of him acknowledging this:

• Some artists simply try to paint like their heroes, contemporary or historic. They drink from the pool, hopefully enhancing the lives of themselves and others. Sometimes they develop beyond imitation. There were several artists doing master copies in The Prado. I got the impression their motives were both to sell (the one I spoke to told me he was working “on commission”) and to learn. There are some interesting small preliminary studies of large paintings on permanent display, and of course many artists make several versions of their own subjects, developing and refining technique and ideas.

It was also interesting to see paintings dating back to the times when it was normal for several artist to work on one painting, in a workshop context.

• Some artists are successful for reasons not of quality, but of privilege or personality. To the horror of discerning peers, they disperse gallons of effluent into the pool. High profile figurative public works, commissioned at great expense by indiscriminate institutions. These sculptures and paintings are installed in cities, headquarters, and football stadiums as an embarrassing reflection of nepotism and the artistic deficit of the era. I won’t sullying this journal with photos. But they will persist, just as fantastic Roman sculptures have:

  

• Artists whose legacy is tarnished with personal toxicity (Eric Gill, Gaugin, Picasso, Freud) still (in my view) leave valid and useful contributions in the pool. For my own sanity, I generally choose to ignore work where the toxicity is blatantly evident in it. Rape of the Sabines, anyone? But there may still be useful lessons to be taken from it, so…

• Teachers show people the pool, and ways to engage with it. They enable the next generation to break new ground and ultimately to contribute. I enjoyed seeing Van Dyke’s version of the Brazen Serpent story in The Prado. It jumped across the room at me, because I had spent time in The National Gallery in London copying one of Rubens’ versions of this, and enjoyed tracing the similarities and variations between student and teacher.

• Art societies, galleries and collectors build the landscape around the pool. That can be the plumbing (channels, taps and drains to and from the pool), pathways to follow, and water features to highlight excellence.

Doing master copies

Out of interest, I enquired at The Prado - you can do copies in person by prior appointment:

• They provide easels

• You bring all materials

• There is a max size you can produce, it must be slightly different to the original.

• You have to specify a single piece to copy

• There are a few old masters you aren’t allowed to copy.

This added an extra layer of excitement to my visit, as I fantasised about doing it, and assessed the best pictures to target for copying: Interesting compositions and subjects, together with logistics (not on the top floor, not in high traffic areas, near the cafe) were factors. Here are my top 3 contenders:

For drama, composition, light, and the value of having lower key people not doing much, to balance the drama.

The intellectual prince, in exile, disinherited by his father. Such a masterful depiction of a really unusual subject. Despite the opulence, it seems to capture the ennui and wasted talent of exclusion and captivity:

Rubens’ control of shadow on the face. The speed and fluency of execution. The void of black, a feast of lost edges and compressed tones, at both extremes, driving the focus to face and hands:

Maria’s statuesque figure (undiminished by being seated) reminds me of Pietro Annigoni’s painting of Queen Elizabeth II (painted the year I was born, 1969):

Annigoni went a step further and subjugated even the hands. Now THAT is how to paint a monarch in red.

On arriving home I started to think about how a contemporary artist might engage with ‘the pool’ during the course of a project. To be continued in a future journal…

It would be fantastic for me, and for all stakeholders, to win the People’s prize in this competition, please take a minute to vote, it’s very easy!

Click here then scroll down to 56

This blog comes with huge thanks to two eminent contemporary artists, Michele Ashby and Jake Spicer, for sharing their work and thoughts.

Let’s take a journey through time, looking through a light-hearted lens (ha) at art before photography, up to the present day:

Good Ol’ Masters … Good Ol’ Days?

Not saying I could do better, but I’d wager that back in the 1500s even Leonardo da Vinci, dissector extraordinaire, would have benefitted from a squint at a photo of a lion, horse, or dragon.

If you want a convincing animal or person in your artwork, the time-honoured approach is to practice relentlessly from life, and to study anatomy. That is absolutely do-able if you have a spare decade, deep pockets, and are apprenticed to a Renaissance artist.

Then and now, artists who conquer the sheer grind of learning to ‘eyeball’ measurements and colours are held in high regard (er… that is my way - Ed)

Horse art bloopers

Until 1878, this was how galloping horses were generally depicted (even by my Romantic art hero, avid student of the severed body part):

Cameras crack the problem

In a fabulously Blue Peter-esque enterprise, Eadweard Muybridge used string, double-sided sticky tape, washing-up liquid bottles, and 20 cameras to establish that a horse’s legs are only all simultaneously off the ground when they are tucked beneath the body during a gallop. So in 1878, Muybridge invented the motion picture, and gave the world the first ever .GIF !

More horse art gaffes, and info on Mubridge’s work

Contemporary artists walking the talk

Lots of artists use photography as a cornerstone of their work. From hyper-photorealists to collage makers, to painters who reproduce photographic distortion. I would describe them as using the effects of photography, a great branch of enquiry for another conversation.

Setting those aside, I am interested in today’s practitioners who combine traditional skills, observation, and reference photos to meet their objectives. My hope is to stand on the shoulders of giants AND press forward. The use of the photo may/may not be evident in the final result, and that may/may not matter.

Here are two fine artists (and teachers) who inspire me with their vibrant figurative work, sometimes using reference photos:

Michele Ashby

Michele’s work speaks directly to my personal experience. From portraits to iron staircases, she seems to zone in on the textures and light that catch my eye about people and things. Her haberdashery still lifes are a hotline to my childhood, I feel I can smell and feel every object. It is fascinating to know her process, but what draws me in are her choices, often made at/before the photographic stage. Find Michele on Instagram and her Website

“Photography is my second love sitting closely behind my passion for painting with pastels. A reference photo is simply another tool in an artist’s arsenal that can be used as a starting point.

However, not all reference photos make for beautiful paintings.

Sifting through to find what will translate into a piece of art along with your skills is so important.

Triggering a strong emotional response to say what you want to say is how it all starts so choosing what I want to keep in and emphasising those elements alongside what I want to leave behind are key to creating a strong composition before I even begin putting colour to paper.

I enjoy the process of photography whether it’s with lighting and in the studio or while capturing an image on the fly as I’m in a crowded street.

For me as I’ve chosen my artistic path later in life I feel I’m always short for time with what I want to say and using reference photos is a great way of speeding the process up allowing me more time to create.” - Michele Ashby

Jake Spicer

Jake moves seamlessly between working from life, via zoom, and from photos. His work seems to be simultaneously knowing and inquisitive. I love his combination of control and looseness, his attention to both anatomical features and the spirit of the person modelling. Jake is endlessly generous in his use of video as a tool for demonstrating and sharing his skills.

“I’ve always been an advocate of using a wide range of source material to support learning. A photograph freezes a moment in time, giving us longer to work from the imagery that it depicts - it can be a powerful tool and is an integral part of the process of so many professional artists working today. While we limit ourselves when we work from photos alone, live subjects also present limitations - the strongest drawing education is built on an understanding of how to make best use of each source of imagery available to us. We might develop an understanding of form, a sense of physical presence and a more responsive process while working from life, and combine that with the patience and intense observation that a photographic subject might encourage.” - Jake Spicer

Find Jake on Instagram, his Website and Many other places

See the caption of this Instagram post for details; Nb the use of a reference set:

There are many great ways to work from photos within the realm of figurative realism. In addition to Michele and Jake, see the epic narrative paintings of Will Rochfort. Will stages elaborate reference photos, a process described in this great discussion with John Dalton.

So what?

Much as I love The Book Of Kells, there’s no denying the usefulness of word processors. If it weren’t for computers, this blog could have been handwritten and posted, but the reality is it just wouldn’t happen at all. I think the loss of manual dexterity is a shame, but (speaking as a calligrapher and tatter) does it really matter if handwriting becomes a niche craft, like tatting?! And does it really matter if artwork is produced by direct observation or from a photo?

As we evolve, we look back at traditional assumptions, priorities, and judgements with fresh critical thinking. We are taught that hard work begets good things.

We relish artwork being made ‘En Plein Air‘ (‘outside’ - Ed). Like the art equivalent of method acting, the en plein air painter gives up time and personal comfort in a quest for immersion in their subject, and thereby faithful representation… a thoroughly justified custard pie to reference photos!

Sure, reducing the shapes and colours of the 3D world onto a 2D page can’t be mastered entirely from photos. If you can, pack an easel and head for the hills, to a life drawing class, or off to Florence to study sight-size and earth pigments. As much for the joy of doing it as for the end product.

But if you’re learning to draw, and finding all the elements difficult, would using a photo make the difference between having a go or not? Hold your head up high at the kitchen table… brush in one hand, YouTube tutorial/photo in the other!

I often use photos, and often direct observation. From now on, I will lose the tinge of guilt that comes from thinking that working from life is the One True Way.

If you have enjoyed this blog, please do leave a comment, and pass it on to friends.

Thank you so much!

Gail x

(first published 2023 on my website. Updated and shared here on Substack)

2025 was a busy year, showing with the SWLA, SWA, and Ruth Borchard prize exhibitions. So I’m really happy to return to my roots, and have gathered together my best plein air landscapes, and a selection of original sketches to exhibit in the brilliant local artist-run North Street Gallery.

I would love you to visit, and will be stewarding (sketchbook in hand) in the gallery, so check the timetable on this page if you’d like to catch me in person for a chat.

Here’s the catalogue (early access for you), to be released on social media shortly.

And here’s me working hard:

Happy Sunday,

Gxxx

It’s one thing to set up a still life in the privacy of your home/studio, but it takes guts to set your easel up on a busy street.

One spring morning, I went to paint in Glastonbury, about an hour’s drive from my hometown Bristol. I parked for the day, hoiked my clobber out of the car boot, and set off down the High Street to scope for locations. This unique town was ”Normal for Glastonbury”, so no shortage of crystal shops, wizards, singing, chanting, meditating, and drumming.

To be honest, I nearly packed up my easel immediately. The monkey on my shoulder said “People will be judging your work. Shop owners will complain you’re obstructing the pavement. What if it rains? What if you drop all your brushes? It would be so much easier to go to an empty field and paint Glastonbury Tor“. To add pressure, I was wearing a branded T shirt to advertise the gallery that was representing me, Heart Of The Tribe.

My extrovert son Leon always tells me people are much nicer than most of us assume. With his words ringing in my ears, I took a deep breath, found a spot outside the beautiful turquoise Crystal Shop where cars wouldn’t park in front of me, out of the way of pedestrians, with my canvas in shade. I put John Dalton’s podcast on my headphones, got caught up in the view, and for the next 3 hours just painted. Lots of lovely people offered compliments.

Two gentlemen of a certain age asked whether I was using oils or acrylics, and seemed to approve on the basis it wasn’t newfangled plastic paint. A couple asked how much I was planning to sell it for (I referred them to the Heart Of The Tribe - it sold there once it was dry), and many people just said how nice it was to be doing it. Children pulled their parents over to see, some came back later and checked my progress.

Apart from a dog weeing dangerously near my bag, I couldn’t fault the experience. Happy with my painting, I went to the supermarket and bought a delicious car-picnic of Kimchi, Kombucha, Goat’s cheese, lentil crisps, and seaweed. Restored, I set off back to Bristol.

Handbrake turn

Looking in my rear view mirror, I caught a beautiful glimpse of the Tor nestling on green land, in the late afternoon sun. One rather eccentric manoeuvre later, I pulled into a side road and parked by a gate. I trampled down enough verge nettles to put up my easel without blocking the lane, and set to it.

With the company of cows, birds, and the occasional cyclist, I enjoyed this second painting just as much. Several people paused and wound down their car windows for a chat on the way past.

The paintings turned out OK, which is always a bonus. I think you can tell they were painted from life, they preserve every dimension of the day, recorded as and when I experienced it (except the flies, which I fished out). Regardless of technique, painting from observation produces an image imbued with life, depth, and a certain quirky ‘realness’.

But the lasting impression, as I finally set off for home, was of the friendliness of people... when painting in public, you are an ambassador for creativity. It is an chance to reach those who don’t go into galleries. And a chance to get collectors on your mailing list.

So if they get out their phones and start proudly showing you their wife’s paintings, as she mumbles self consciously alongside, take a minute. And if they have children, ask them what they like painting and show them your stuff.

What about you - would you paint in public? Maybe you already do… so, how do you find it?!

I will be showing a selection of work painted outside in the South West at North Street Gallery from February 5th - April 30th 2026. Open Thursday - Sunday, there are lots of good cafes and independent shops locally. Let me know if you’re planning a visit, I’ll be on the stewarding rota and would love to welcome you in person x

If you are lucky enough to have two working eyes to the front of your skull, your brain is constantly receiving two slightly different images - one from the left, one from the right. You can take steps to control it (eg shut one eye), but unless you do, any painting from observation will be a subtle combination of the two different perspectives.

Imagine you are standing in a forest in the middle of a ring of pine trees:

As you look up, the trees appear to converge around you, to a vanishing point somewhere in the sky. The tree directly in front of you appears perfectly vertical, those to left and right appear to lean towards it. If you turn your head slightly, then a different tree seems vertical, and the one that was vertical before is now bent. Depending on your head position, perspective causes everything to bend to fit.

When you look at a subject, your eyes stretch their lenses to focus on whatever they’re pointed at. In the image sent to your brain, the surrounding area is blurred, and has less distinct colours. It’s also upside down, rather like this:

For hunting & gathering reasons, our attention is drawn to difference… it’s easier to spot insects (be they poisonous or delicious) when they’re moving; Red berries look more intensely red against green leaves.

Your incredible brain

High five to your occipital lobe, for resolving all these signals on the fly, to enable your body to deal with the world outside your skull. Without you even having to give it a second thought, your brain makes unconscious decisions about which image to use when.

Our eyes and brain are a unique reflection of our genetics and environment. So it follows that the way in which we see, prioritise and process these myriad images of the world is absolutely individual. What sort of red is that berry? What is the tilt of that branch?

While painting, artists make deliberate choices about composition, colour, style, etc. These choices relate to the artist’s selected aims and methods. But the observed information fed into that process, the artist’s eye view, depends on the unique mechanics of their eye.

However much an artist may change or evolve their conscious technique, the uniqueness of their visual observation underpins it, and is largely beyond their control.

Playing with observation

Paul Cezanne used to subtly tilt objects with coins etc, to bring his still lives to life. This short video gives a fascinating insight into how he bumped up the ‘from life’ effects so distinctively. Whether you paint or not, the coin thing is fun to try at the dinner table!

Cubists took it a step further, and deliberately combined different views of their subject within the image:

We are connected

Painting from life is a journey of information from the physical world, through the artist’s nervous system, onto the canvas. When the canvas is seen, the viewer takes a journey back the other way, through the artist’s eye onto the scene at the time of painting.

The camera never lies sees

Modern cameras are incredible machines, they make colour, shape, and value choices, either directed by the user or automatically. In skilled hands, they do a really good job of representing what we think we see. The camera’s ability to ‘fix’ an image is very appealing, especially if you’re painting on a windy day, drawing people in motion, or chasing the light (the shadows of your subject making a sundial).

But in reducing three dimensions to two, the camera quietly fixes everything: the position of the ‘eye’, the focal depth, the red of the berry, the tilt of the branch…

It’s evident

Once upon a time, at a craft market in Dubai, I had about 12 framed drawings laid out on a table for sale. My friend, the Sudanese artist and fellow stallholder Usama Afnan, told me he could pick out which ones were done from photos. To my amazement he did exactly that, without hesitation. I had no idea that it was so obvious to the trained eye.

Oh, and another thing…

The gloriousness of life

It’s one thing to set up a still life in the privacy of your home/studio, but it takes guts to set your easel up on a busy street. In my next post, I’ll take you on a painting expedition, and share what it’s like working in public. Then, lest you should think me a zealot, we’ll talk about the benefits of cameras!

Town or country? Inside or outside? Share your thoughts about all this, in the comments.

Originally published on www.gailreidartist.com in 2022, updated and reshared here for my Substack audience.

By the way I LOVE Substack! It still hoovers up time and attention like Instagram. But it does feel a bit more insightful, with some brilliant blogs and opinion pieces here.

Have a great week,

Gxxx

Picasso is celebrated for how profoundly he conveys emotion. Two of his works from 1937 feature female suffering and grief in a way that I find particularly striking.

Considering these works in the context of the lives of the women involved gives the lie to Picasso’s apparent empathy.

His paintings reveal nothing about genuine female suffering and grief, and plenty about the attitude to women that he displayed in words, life, and art.

Guernica

In 1937, Picasso was commissioned by the Spanish Republican government to produce a large mural for the Spanish Pavilion at the Paris International Exposition. While Picasso was contemplating design ideas in Paris, the strategic Basque town of Guernica was attacked by the German Nazis and Italian Fascist Air Force. Based on an eye-witness account of the bombing, Picasso decided to use this event as the subject of the commission.

Both Picasso (in Paris) and Käthe Kollwitz (in Berlin) had anti-war protest as a key feature of their work.

Kollwitz started this etching around 1903. It is in the Pietà tradition, based on a self portrait modelled with her 7 year old son in front of a mirror. That son Peter died aged 18 on the battlefield in Flanders in World War I in 1914. A few early-state proofs (when the etching plate hadn’t been fully completed) exist, but the definitive edition of 50 impressions (see image above) was printed and signed by the artist in 1918. Further editions were printed up to 1941, which implies it was well received, and distributed, particularly within the international anti-war artistic community of which Picasso was a member.

I am very familiar with Kollwitz’s image, having featured it in my own painting:

On seeing Guernica, I was immediately struck by his brilliant sampling and recontextualising of Kollwitz’ Woman With A Dead Child. It was like seeing an old friend.

Picasso was not in the habit of acknowledging references, but I would argue that the similarities listed below (ref annotations on the two images above) contradict all reasonable doubt that his image is derived from that of Kollwitz. This is also an insight into how Picasso edited and translated visual information into his idiosyncratic graphic style.

1 The position of her arm and hand, scooped under the neck.

2 The position of her thumb in Picasso’s version, reminiscent of her toe in the Kollwitz

3 The orientation of the whole image, illustrated by the position of the child’s head, with a section of his neck visible.

4 The incongruous corner of her breast in Picasso’s version, echoing the child’s shoulder in the Kollwitz

5 The heavy vertical hatching in the Kollwitz, where Picasso has put a vertical stripe pattern.

6 (below) Maar’s fascinating early progress shot shows that the child’s nose was in the same orientation as Kollwitz’s when first sketched in.

Although I haven’t seen anyone else make these connections explicitly, and there are other inputs at play, it isn’t particularly contentious that he referenced Kollwitz’s imagery here.

I fully support (and do myself) the sampling or quoting of the work of other artists. These are my objections to Picasso’s approach:

• The borrowed image embeds authentic mother’s grief (Kollwitz’ personal experience of her husband’s patients, and her own loss) into Picasso’s anti-war painting. Perhaps her intimately crouching pose was not dramatic enough to Picasso’s eye. Along with other changes, he raised the woman’s head into a wailing gesture, thereby also revealing her breasts. So in a festival of crassness, Picasso took Kollwitz’s image, layered hysteria over her grief, and added boobs.

• Anyone creative builds on, and contributes to, the immemorial communal pool of ideas. Seeing Guernica in the Reina Sofía museum, Kollwitz’s specific details and rhythms jumped out at me, thanks to hours spent copying her etching in my The Raft Of The Medusa. When quoting the work of others there is a moral obligation to give credit. There is no record of Picasso doing this.

• In Differencing the Canon: Feminist Desire and the Writing of Art’s Histories (1999), Griselda Pollock argues that the Western art historical canon has systematically marginalized women’s contributions, resulting not only in the absence of female artists’ names but also in the erasure of their ideas, practices, and ways of thinking about art. Art historians who water down attribution to Kollwitz with tepid phrases like “inspired by” deny Picasso’s derivative use of her authentic original motif, and boost his legacy at the expense of hers.

Weeping Woman

Picasso used Dora Marr as a model for this series of portraits. He is quoted as saying “a portrait shows what the artist knows or feels about the subject, not what the subject thinks of themselves”.

His relationship with Maar was characteristically abusive. When they met, he was separated from (and for financial reasons refusing to grant a divorce to) Olga Khokhlova. His mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter (27 years his junior) had just given birth to their child.

This was at the early stage of their relationship, during which time Maar modelled for him extensively. She sourced him a studio, educated him politically, and documented his progress on Guernica.

Picasso did lots of self-portraits. Many artists turn to self portraiture to depict themselves in heightened emotional states. A really interesting sub-oeuvre of self portraiture, this can be as a technical exercise, or to process actual feelings. It is often reflected that by using yourself as the model, you don’t need to give any thought to the model’s feelings about how they are represented.

It is a totally different proposition to superimpose despair onto the portrayal of a third party, let alone an intimate partner.

Positioned as representing the suffering of women, this series is chillingly prophetic of the control and suffering he would mete out to Maar over the following years. Picasso repeatedly portrayed her in distress, to the extent that eventually being “Picasso’s weeping woman” eclipsed Maar’s public reputation and career as a photographer.

Self portrait of photographer-artist Dora Maar “All portraits of me are lies. They’re Picasso’s.”

Conclusion

I can find no record of Picasso acknowledging Kollwitz’s etching. Although she was alive, productive, and critically acclaimed in 1937 when he painted Guernica, Picasso’s success, reach, and influence were of a different order to hers.

On a superficial level I don’t have much difficulty separating the personal life/character of an artist from their art, where they are essentially discrete. I appreciate some of Picasso’s work, and admire his boundless drive to create and innovate. However his character is integral to the choices described in The Weeping Woman, Guernica, and many of his other works.

Given that Guernica was exhibited at the Paris Exposition, then toured before being taken to Madrid, Kollwitz is likely to have known of the celebrated public commission, and would have recognised her vignette within it. If so, I wonder how she felt about it. Perhaps she would have felt they just had a common goal. Perhaps like Picasso she was busy working. Either way, his silence deprived her of visibility.

And as a woman artist, I can attest that visibility is very hard to come by, even though there has been progress since 1930s Europe. In 2020 I tried blue hair, sat in front of a mirror, and made a self portrait in the style of Picasso - referencing the monumentality of his Large Bather, and the playful style of Girl In A Mirror. It received 77 ‘likes’, a metric most contemporary artists are familiar with tracking. Maybe republishing it here will attract a few more.

You may have noticed (hopefully it felt seamless) this email is written using Substack - a growing platform for newsletters and blogs. I was seduced by the grammar and lack of catchy videos.

The year behind

2025 has been about investing in more ambitious narrative projects and relationships. Yet again, support has come from my trusty steeds (you) and from the judging panels who selected my work. Museum natural history curators have opened my eyes and their cabinets, setting up specimens under microscopes, and taking me outside to poke around in substances usually stepped over.

The Society of Women Artists were beyond generous with the support and wall space they gave me, selecting The Raft Of The Medusa and The Boy Who Played Cricket as part of their 164th annual open exhibition in The Mall Galleries.

Thank you if you were one of the many people who came to visit shows, open studios, modelled, shared, commented, or bought work from any independent creative this year.

Other highlights:

• Behind the scenes some really moving commissions

• Giving free talks in a local school, hosting studio visits, and donating work to charity auction.

• Getting better at shrugging off rejections.

• Exhibiting with The Society of Wildlife Artists for the third year running.

• Being shortlisted for the Ruth Borchard Prize.

The year ahead

For 2026 my goals remain: Impact, Resonance, and Reach. To that end, I’ve been seeking opportunities to reach audiences with Dungscape. Happy to report two exhibitions lined up (September and October), and (despite being unconventional narrative work), this project has also been awarded a bursary. This means showing sketches and perhaps even specimens alongside the finished pieces, in places that platform the urgency of recovering habitat and species diversity.

Dungscape is presenting exciting technical challenges too - I can’t see all the solutions, but know it will get there in the end. Impasto medium has been a great learning curve. Click this image to see the impasto going on:

I’ll be ordering some iridescent paint in the New Year sales.

At the more palatable end of the spectrum, I’m delighted to be showing landscapes of the South West, at North Street Gallery from February to April:

Thank you for sticking with me this year, for all your words and actions of support. I hope my transition to Substack is seamless for you, and that you enjoy my correspondence as much as ever. There is no need to re-subscribe. I appreciate your attention very much, and am always open to suggestions and ideas.

Egged on by ChatGPT I have rebranded my newsletters and blog as ‘Journal’! You can find the archives here. I will be updating and re-publishing some of my most popular blogs in the next few months.

Wishing you a happy, healthy, rational, peaceful 2026

Over and out

Gxxx

Thank you for all your support this year. Your comments and messages reassure me that my work makes sense. Your commissions, purchases, studio visits, modelling… soulfood!

If Meta cancelled my social media tomorrow because of showing a bit too much ankle, or too much cow poo  (while the algorithms proliferate really toxic sh*t), we’d still have each other here 😊. I genuinely love sharing process videos, and receive a surprising amount of feedback that other artists find them useful. So here’s the last one of 2025:

Dungscape

Even when I pivoted from portraits to cowpats you stuck (!) around.

Big doors are opening for Dungscape, which I’m excited to share with you soon. For the eminent entomologists who have contributed so generously, it is great to be able to further the impact of their research.

Turns out there are plenty art-lovers who value biodiverse ecosystems teaming with beetles, wasps, flies, bees, butterflies and moths. Systems that have evolved to balance themselves if undisturbed. Systems that pollinate, control pests, feed the birds, and recycle waste naturally.

Jobs to neglect

So on behalf of the insects, and the fruit trees, thank you for not bothering with the pesticides. Leave unkempt garden areas, let the weeds flower, and skip a few mows. Use the time this summer to make a daisy chain, read outside, and enjoy the buzz of a bee’s wings against blossom petals.

Have a wonderful Christmas - see you in 2026

Gxxx

PS - moving home

I’ll be moving this newsletter (and my blog) onto Substack shortly. It feels like a calmer corner of the internet, built around writing and readers, rather than marketing noise. The sort of place where a judiciously placed Oxford comma might shine. Nothing about the tone or frequency of my emails will change. You will continue to receive them as usual.

I’ve already imported my blog archive there, which you can browse here

Firstly this is to let you know that SUBSCRIBERS ONLY now have early access to my ‘Black Friday Sale’.

Use the 20% discount code STUDIO20 at checkout to buy original art and prints in time for Christmas delivery. This includes drawings and paintings, framed and unframed.

shop here

Sketches

The STUDIO20 discount reduces my original sketches to £32. These make quirky gifts, much elevated by a simple off-the-shelf frame. Follow my social media where I will be sharing more examples this week, but here’s a taster - everything from watercolours to life drawings, ink and pencil.

How to buy a sketch

Katy Hessel

I was honoured to meet this renowned art historian, influencer (“The Great Women Artists” instagram & podcast), and bestselling author (“The Story Of Art Without Men”). Katy has done a huge amount of heavy lifting for the reputation of neglected historic and contemporary women artists. She was just back from Amsterdam and Edinburgh, on her book tour.

Read my blog about Katy’s book & talk

Morocco

Talking of Great Women, I’m feeling like a brand new one after a week on a Pilates retreat with a group of brilliant interesting women. Emily Hayward led us for Pilates at sunrise and sunset on this beautiful rooftop, bathed in the sounds of the Call to Prayer and a European starling that seemed to think it was conducting the class!

There was plenty time for exploring and relaxing, so I brought my paints, and to my delight 3 pictures found new homes ‘off the easel’. One of them (click below for info) is now available as a print on canvas:

The weaver

On our last evening in Marrakech I plucked up the courage to ask this gentleman to allow me to draw him. Approaching strangers like this is something I’ve been trying to crack for years. Click this image to read about the experience:

Exhibition news - date for your diary

I’m delighted to say I will be showing with North Street Gallery from February to March next year. This is a new approach for me, as I will be able to curate an area of space in a group show, and also have a browser of sketches and prints. North Street is a beautiful high street in Bedminster, packed with independent shops, restaurants, cafes. There will be a ‘Meet The Artists’ event on 21st March. More information to follow, but I intend to major on oil paintings of the South West.

Dungscape

The first two canvases are coming along in my studio - the scene is almost set, with the sky, field, and cowpats nearly done. I’m so excited to be adding all the creatures, with plans to feature iridescence, texture, behaviour, and much more. Follow me on Instagram or Facebook for regular updates including painting videos direct from my studio.

Every time I drink coffee from a handmade mug I feel a connection with the idea, skill, and hand of the maker. If you have bought my work in the past, thank you  - I really hope that you sense that connection through your purchase, because it is very much intended.

Have a great week, and if you visit my online shop, flex that discount code STUDIO20, which will be live until midnight on 1st December,

Gxxx

… author of bestseller ‘The Story Of Art Without Men’, which gave the lie to the seminal (in both senses) ‘Story Of Art’ by Ernst Gombrich….

…is on a book tour to launch ‘How to live an Artful Life’.

Half the story

Buy here

Buy here

Once I’d adjusted to the surreal experience of listening to Katy in person (after blasting The Great Women Artists podcast on my studio speakers for so long), I really enjoyed tonight’s event at The Tobacco Factory. Her familiar energetic delivery was undinted by having been in Edinburgh and Amsterdam already this week. She deftly whistled through snippets from the book, sharing quotes and images from artists she’s interviewed/studied, anecdotes, and answering some great questions.

As a serial dipper-in, the format of her new book suits me perfectly. It won’t be added to my bedside table, it will be in the studio for crisis intervention. The perfect antidote to a slump of indignation, and a reminder of the shoulders on which we stand.

Katy was generous with her attention to everyone who wanted their books signed. It was lovely to see a very dear portrait client who’d also come to the talk, and to bump into friends in the queue. When I got to the front, Katy noticed my Jen Reid/Colstons T Shirt… so imagine my delight when I saw what she’d written in my book copy!

Recommended

Katy’s infectious energy comes through in her writing, talking, and her Great Women Artists instagram account, where it all began. I highly recommend her podcast, and a copy of her new book for your Christmas list.

Tonight’s event was beautifully hosted and introduced by Storysmith books at The Tobacco Factory. Katy’s book is published by Penguin/Cornerstone

Many venues are sold out, but check Katy’s website for a few that still have tickets available.

Your comments are welcome

Which artists do you turn to for inspiration? Have you read either of Katy’s books? Feel free to leave a comment, or contact me directly with any feedback or enquiries.

Morocco me

It's been quite a month for various reasons, so I'm very grateful to Past Self for booking me onto a Pilates retreat with 2 girlfriends, setting off today. Follow me on social media for painting-ahem-Pilates updates.

I won't be holding an open studio this year, but you remain very welcome. The space is always stocked with original work, framed and unframed, to suit all budgets (sketches from £25). Contact me if you'd like to visit and scoop a bargain in person.

If you'd like to give the gift of a commission, or a voucher to spend in my online shop, get in touch. Purchases from my shop made by mid December can be delivered to UK addresses by Christmas.

Here's hoping your October ended better than Pumpkin Pete's. Have a great November, thank you, as ever, for being on the receiving end,
Gxxx

‘Climbing up to the mint’ - click for advance access to browse and buy from the exhibition catalogue

Wild invitation

The Society of Wildlife Artists’ annual exhibition ‘The Natural Eye’ opens to the public on 16th October. As an exhibitor, I am delighted to invite you to the Private View on the afternoon of 15th October. Set between Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square, this is a fun, friendly event, buzzing with contemporary wildlife artists and collectors. The musician David Gray will open the show at 3pm. Feel free to save or print the image below as your ticket. If you click it, you will link to the full exhibition information.

Beetles

As well as a deep dive into the world of museum-curated insect specimens, the work has been reminiscent of my days of project management: Trying to define the deliverables, and to get buy-in from interested parties has been intense! My sketchbook is filling up, and the concept is starting to gain traction with potential exhibition opportunities. With enthusiastic support and help from the entomologists in Bristol, and the Natural History, museums. They seem really keen to share the importance of keystone species like dung beetles, and the environmental conditions needed for those species to thrive.

With Rhian and Nick in Bristol Museum & Art Gallery basement. They have been so helpful digging out specimens for me to draw, teaching me relevant details to portray in a convincing natural context. And the fascinating labelling conventions, which unlock useful historical data, such as when and where the specimens were collected.

Peoples

In case you were wondering, I haven't lost interest in the human form!
1 - A fantastic session of aerial life drawing run by United Models Lifedrawing in Bristol. This quick sketch shows circus performer Jen Hebden, who used a trapeze and other equipment to create challenging (both to hold and to draw) short poses.
2 - A free online workshop (heads and hands) by Jake Spicer for Draw Brighton, demonstrating Derwent's newly extended colour range of my favourite drawing pencils. This was a 20 minute sketch of Hannah Barker using the pencils.
3 - A studio shot at the end of my hosting a client trying the wonderful experience of life modelling. Shared with permission. Contact me for info if you want to know more about this, or my more conventional portraiture services!
4 - Nick sat for his portrait, to go with the one of Angela from a couple of years ago. It was such a fun day, and very helpful to borrow hers back to make sure the styles were as consistent as possible.

Finally, a shot of the inaugural meeting of Bristol Plein Air Painters. We were blessed with blue skies, and the volunteers on The Matthew (a replica of John Cabot's ship in Bristol Harbour) invited us on board to paint.

Thanks for being here for the journey, don't forget to let me know if you'd like tickets to the Private View, or portrait information,
Gxxx