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Many artists are inspired
by the immense variety of ideas that can be found in our cities,
but there are relatively few who manage to create images that convey
both an emotional response to a place as well as what is observed.
The most successful paintings of urban scenes are more than simply
interesting pictures of buildings and people. Irrespective of
whether or not we recognise the subject of the painting, the best
works demand something more of us than mere admiration. They have
strengths and qualities that are independent of the subject matter;
and are able to stand as paintings in their own right, dependent as
much on the skill of the artist in handling paint, using colour and
arranging shapes as on the specific content.
 The lively and distinctive paintings by Henry Kondracki embrace
all of these objectives. Deeply meaningful and personal, they are of
places and scenes that are charged with mood and feeling; subjects
that are expressed powerfully through a sensitive use of brushwork and
paint handling. His city is Edinburgh, where he grew up and where he
now lives with his own children. Many of his paintings are of places
that he knew as a child and which now, he says, "I'm seeing filtered
through all my memories."
What interests him most is the fact that the streets haven't
changed but, of course, the people have.
"There is a flux and flow of humanity; it's a kind of marker of
time," he says. "Life evolves and changes. And although in that
sense my paintings have a personal perspective, I believe they can
also mean something to other people. For when looking at a painting,
we all bring our previous experiences to it, if not consciously.
Inspiration and ideas
"One of my tutors at the Slade once described Edinburgh as 'the
unpainted city', and while I probably did not appreciate the full
significance of his remark at the time, there is no doubt that I now
know exactly what he meant. Although the city has been the inspiration
for most of my paintings over the past decade, the scope for
interesting, challenging ideas remains as strong as ever. Edinburgh is
an inexhaustible subject: I have hardly touched it. And the great
thing is that I never have to search for ideas; they are constantly
presenting themselves to me.
"Usually my ideas come from images that have, quite by chance,
impressed me when I am out somewhere; perhaps when I am taking the
children swimming, for example, or to some other activity.
"When I return home the strength of that image in my mind's eye
might be such that I start to consider how it could be produced as a
painting. I make an initial sketch to evaluate the idea and then, if I
think it worth pursuing, I go back to the location to make drawings
and to take some photographs.
"Sometimes I take my children with me to photograph them in that
particular environment. This reference information provides the
starting point for a painting. However, I firmly believe that every
painting should have a life of its own; it shouldn't simply be a copy
of a drawing or photograph."
The location drawings are made in
pencil or pen and often they are quite detailed.
"Sometimes I spend hours and hours on the drawings," says Henry.
"Normally I do not need all that detail, but initially it helps me
understand the subject, and by so doing I can determine what is
essential and what to eliminate. Also, of course, the idea that I have
in my mind for the painting, although inspired by a particular event
or location, won't necessarily match the reality. The more you paint,
the more you see things in terms of paintings rather than
straightforward fact. The camera is factual; the artist is
subjective."
Acrylic underpainting
Henry used to paint almost exclusively in oils, but for the past
two years he has modified this process and now usually begins with an
acrylic underpainting, subsequently refining and completing the work
in oils.
"I started using acrylics as a flat background wash," he
explains, "and it has developed from that. Now, sometimes as much as
75 per cent of the painting is acrylics; sometimes even the whole
painting. I like the predictability of acrylics: you know what they
are going to do. With oil paints this is less so. But they work well
over acrylics, creating a more interesting surface and enriching the
colour quality."
The preferred support is acrylic primed cotton duck canvas which,
being more absorbent than linen, is more suitable for the acrylic/oil
combination. Henry usually prepares the canvas with a thin stain of
raw umber acrylic colour to block out the white surface and give a
mid-tone from which to work. But this depends on the subject matter
and the effects required. At other times he likes the white canvas to
shine through thinly applied glazes and so create a result similar to
a watercolour. Rather than working from a set palette, the colours are
chosen specifically for each new painting.
"I like to feel my way into a painting," he says. "The painting
dictates the palette."
Referring to the location sketches and photographs Henry begins each
painting by drawing on the canvas in charcoal to indicate the main
areas of the composition. While the drawing is regarded as a very
important stage, he does like to keep it as spontaneous as possible.
"I often draw just the merest dividing horizontal line and a
suggestion of where the buildings will be," he says. "In the past
I used to develop the drawing in much more detail and, like the early
20th century painter Max Beckmann, sometimes I would really define it
by redrawing the salient lines in pen and ink. The advantage with such
lines is that when you cover them with an oil wash they still show
through. But that is also the problem. If you need to make changes,
the lines are very difficult to paint out.
Further work in oils
"I spray the charcoal drawing with fixative and then I start
with the acrylics, initially blocking in the main shapes with thin
colours and then developing them further. Because acrylics dry quickly
it is possible to build up quite a range of effects in a relatively
short period as well as tackle various technical aspects that would be
much more difficult to solve in oils. For example, where there is a
figure against a background, it is easier to create a convincing sense
of space around the figure when using acrylics.
"Somehow this stage of the painting seems to dictate its own life,
so there comes a point when I feel that the work in acrylics has gone
far enough. Then I usually put the painting aside for a time while I
work on something else. This time delay means that when I have another
look at the painting I can do so more objectively. I may decide that
the painting is best left as it is, or that it needs further work in
oil paint to enliven it.
"The oil paint can be applied as a thin glaze — by brushing it on
and then wiping most of it off — or, where appropriate, in a more
textural way. Oil paint will also enhance the colour, making it richer
and more resonant. My aim is for an image that has sensitivity and
impact, and I rely mostly on various types of brushwork to achieve
that effect. But there is no set method of working, of course. Every
painting presents a fresh challenge and it is rare if there aren't
doubts or even touches of despair sometimes!
 "Perhaps this is how it should be. I find that paintings seem to
go through a stage when they almost have to be destroyed in order to
further the process of creativity. One of the most important things to
learn as an artist, I think, is the ability to say 'no' to passages
that aren't working within a painting. A technique that I now use when
a painting is not going so well is to scrape most of the wet paint off
with a rubber squeegee (the sort used to clean windows). This leaves
an interesting 'ghost' of the painting, which can then form the basis
for further work. The painting is reborn, invigorated and ultimately
more successful."
Other artists may not be prepared to adopt such drastic measures.
But whether they do or not, it is evident from the highly individual
nature of Henry Kondracki's work and the way that he creates energy,
mood and a real sense of place in his pictures, that to paint with
feeling, you must avoid preconceptions.
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