Les Thomas – the painter's progress

A phrase used by the American contemporary painter Alex Kanevsky, “painting on the edge of incompetence”, caught my eye. The idea is that if you’re working within your familiar bounds, you’re boring, not learning anything, and just producing widgets. If you’re painting outside your familiar bounds, you’re incompetent: almost by definition, you don’t know what you’re doing. But if you’re “painting on the edge of incompetence”, then you’re pushing your own boundaries, still having a bit of control but running the risk of having it crash and burn. And by definition, your boundaries just expanded … regardless of whether the painting is a success or failure. Sound advice methinks.

A second 8-inch square oil painting with a nautical theme finished this morning.

Swansea Art Society’s Winter Exhibition was opened this afternoon at St Mary’s Church in the centre of Swansea. It runs until Saturday 7 December. It is the first time I have exhibited with the Society and have two paintings on display:

The first, Three Cliff Bay, Gower, 30 X 30 cm, oil on canvas is priced at £250.00;

the second, Walkers in the Shadow of Rhossili Cliffs, Gower, 24 X 24cm, oil on canvas is priced at £180.00.

Professional painter, Nick Holly, pictured above in front of my paintings, opened the exhibition. He was extremely complimentary about my work, and said he would like to see more with a view to hanging my paintings in his gallery. Excellent! It’s always good to get positive feedback, particularly from a high-profile artist such as Nick. (www.nickholly.com)