August | 2022 | Stidy's Eye

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life”

Pablo Picasso

Confession time (in case it isn’t obvious): my name is Anthony Stidolph (aka Stidy) and I am an art addict. It is my form of DIY therapy, my way of coping with what seems an increasingly dangerous and dysfunctional world. I am a believer in art’s healing properties, and its ability to refresh and reinvigorate. It can help the head, mend the heart (and – when it is not going the way you want it to – drive you to distraction).

When I studied art at school – obtaining a distinction at Ó’ Level – I always found myself naturally attracted to drawing rather than painting. I was certainly more proficient in it. My early attempts at putting paint (back then this was limited to prehistoric powder paints which I never got the hang of) on paper were mostly an unmitigated mess. And so pencil, pen and ink became my chosen instruments and when I decided to make a career out of my art, it was to cartooning I turned.

It was only later, with the prospect of retirement looming, that I finally plucked up the courage to venture into colour once more. Thinking big, I decided to go the whole hog and start with oils, which I had never used before. I did this mostly because I knew oil can stand much more abuse in its handling than other mediums (such as watercolour). Any mistakes or errors can be easily covered. You can constantly construct and reconstruct, at leisure.

My first efforts were very tentative and not too successful. Expanding my range made me only more conscious of my lack of experience in this field. I went through periods of doubt and self-questioning. Had I left it too late in my creative life to indulge my craving for colour and pick up the necessary skills to be any good at it? Held on a leash for so long, I did not know quite how to channel my creative energy.

I am nothing if not obsessive, however. I battled on doggedly. My moods continued to alternate between youthful enthusiasm and discouragement. Finally, I began to enjoy it. I discovered that if you are more relaxed, you can concentrate better.

Although I did not take up painting until the middle years of my life, intimations of a desire to do so appeared much earlier. In some ways, my long career as a cartoonist laid the groundwork for what followed. For a start, I had learnt that it is not necessarily part of the job to copy nature exactly as it is and that by simplifying it and omitting the superfluous you could signal just as much and also make your art more immediately accessible.

As with cartooning, too, you begin to develop your own style over time too, almost unconsciously. It is like a signature, your personal handwriting, something that develops without you having to think too much about it. Aspects of your personality, preoccupations and predispositions begin to shine through.

Having decided to take the plunge into oils, it was almost inevitable that I should be drawn to landscape painting. I grew up on a remote but beautiful farm in Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands. It was situated in a wilderness of mountains, kopjes and hills. In every distance stood strange shrouded landscapes, dotted with baobabs and inset with rivers and fleeting pools. Mysterious, unmortared, stone ruins, scarcely touched by archaeologists, stretched for miles upon miles along the valley floors and right up onto the mountain slopes into the narrowest of crevasses and the steepest cliff faces.

These magical scenes provided a treasury of wonders for a lively, enquiring mind.

To take up landscape painting – or at least be successful – I think you have to have this inherent sensitivity or “feel” for scenery. This is the unteachable part of it. In my lifetime, I have seen way too many landscape paintings which, while technically competent, just lack this intrinsic thrill – or SOUL. It is merely painting by formula, there is no sense of an aesthetic experience, they lack the understanding that comes from constant association with a scene. It is landscape done through a tourist’s rather than a painter’s eye.

Over the succeeding years, I have continued to plug away at my painting, trying hard to establish a balance between seeing and imagining while exploring the possibilities and harmonies of colour and form. I lay no claim to having in any way mastered the subject. I am only too aware of my limitations and shortcomings (I battle with my greens, for example). However, I am not yet ready to throw in the towel or toss away my paintbrushes. I plan to carry on looking and thinking and experiencing and practising, knowing that in art, knowledge assists invention and helps you overcome creative obstacles.

The alternative – which I don’t fancy – is to do an “art detox” and quit…

PORTFOLIO:

Herewith is a selection of my paintings which I have divided into sections.

NYANGA SCENES

I have cherished my memories of the Nyanga landscape all my life so it was inevitable they should insinuate their way into my painting and that I should try to recapture the warm feelings I had about them.