Village Squire, 1978-12, Page 21time that you could get materials in London and have a good
selection even though there was only one store: it changed hands
and the stock's really downhill." He finds this strange because
London is so v:ell known for.it's art colony but then even in
Toronto, he says. it's hard to get a good selection of quality art
supplies. He tried to get a special kind of pastel paper and the
shop in Toronto had never even heard of it. Most of the
alt-knov.n artists deal directly with the wholesalers rather than
dealing with retail outlets.
To beat the other bugbear of artists. Maurice makes some of
his m. n frames. Framing materials bought from retail outlets
have become very expensive. he says.
While he likes life in Wroxeter and if anything would like an
even quieter lifestyle out in the country somewhere, Maurice
says there is one drav:back and that's the lack of contact with
other artists. "I think probably a lot of artists stay in the city
because of that. There's so much more going on and people they
can meet thcrc...wcll it's a different environment. There are so
many people they can see nobody but artists in a lot of cases.
Thcv can live art. Where here. boy you would have to do a lot of
travelling to do that.
"It's more difficult because the more you're exposed to it. the
easier it gets...the more you learn. There are artists around, but
the\'rc kind of off by themselves. But you kind of get lonesome
tor another artist to talk to. It's nice to talk to someone who has
the same problems and in a lot of cases you can solve them. You
pick up a lot of hints.—
There are ironies to trying to make a living from your art.
instead of just doing it for pleasure. "Before 1 used to do things
because I wanted to but now. well I still do that but there's the
economic part of it." Some work. lie says. you just couldn't get
rid of. For this reason his work in pastels has tailed off even
though the v.ork on display in the studio. including two
sumptuous nudes. shows a tine hand for realism. A London artist
c\ en made a trip up to see hor. Maurice accomplished this
realism in pastels.
His art must now be scheduled in around his job of looking
after customers in the studio and looking after the couples three
children under tivc years of age while his wife works in
Winghanm. The studio is open from one in the afternoon to eight
at night but the fancily is up at 5:30 in the morning and he can
c.a rk in the mornings or after eight at night. "Really there's
enough hours there. I've tried painting from eight o'clock in the
morning to ten at night seven clays a v.eck but the pressure's too
Iry at. I'm not one of those really dedicated artists who lives art
:nal doesn't knot'. anything else and doesn't v:ant to know:
anjvdting else. I believe in moderation and I don't think that's
niodcrat ion. ••
He says he doesn't choose a subject for his art so much as it
chooses itself. "It's not a conscious process a lot of times. In
sonic cases there's a particular idea in the hack of my head that's
been there for years then finally it emerges and I can paint it now
h , ausc I get a menial image. I may not be able to get exactly
\. im I ‘.:uu on the cans as or board but I still have it in my head.
Getting it out is the problem: translating it from something
mental to something physical."
�1.nnicc's v.ork shots :m y.idc variety of styles from his realism
in pastel y.ork to abstract landscapes Io geometric designs v:hich
he says arc Immnl•c decorations than paintings.
In his more abstract paintings. he says lie has something in
mind t. hen he begins y.ork but he doesn't like abstract painters
who get carried t.ith their 41.11 importance. "The thing is
(haus there isn't the kind of y.ork inyolVcd in those that there is in
realistic painting of the sante site. 'file thing is that v:ith
.abstract paintinqs that pcoplc :Ire eating Lon astic prices tor...as
tar as I'm concerned they're not wi/ th it. Maybe they've got a
name, maybe they're competent artists, but even so there isn't
as much sweat and blood goes into one of those as there is into
these realistic things like Danby does, I don't care what anybody
says. They're just a short cut to getting rich. If they can make a
fortune doing something that takes hardly any time to do, they'll
do it."
If you hang one of the paintings where an abstract artist
dabbles on the canvas beside a realistic painting of a Danby and
the price is the same "people aren't stupid. They see those two
there, they look at one, they look at the other, they see the price
is the sante and they can see work went into the one and what
didn't go into the other."
While he is critical of the high blown abstract art world,
Maurice says it's something that more artists should explore,
even those interested in more realistic subjects. It helps an
artist, he says. to become more creative and to learn the
potential of the materials he is using.
Experimenting. exploring and enjoying are what life and art
are all about right now for Maurice Darling.
CAROLYN PORTER
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CLINTON -- 482-9505
December 1978. Village Squire 19