JAMES KELSO
  • Home
  • About JK
  • Gallery 1
    • Dune
    • The Winter's Tale
    • The Raft
    • Vespers
    • Dupuytrens
    • Farewell to Stockevik
    • Gallery 2
    • Gran Via
    • Carriers
    • Isolation
    • La Malvinie
    • 16 Walpole
    • The Ghost Tanker
    • The Shipping Forecast
    • The Didcot Interpretation
    • Site
    • Lake Keitele
    • Tom Stoppard
    • The Maybe Man
    • Double Self Portrait With Knees
    • Post Ironic Iron Horse
    • Terminus
    • Cleared to Land
    • Matins
    • The Worm Forgives the Plough
    • Isolation
    • Red Spotty
    • Landed
  • Prints
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Landed
  • Et Cetera
  • doc, can you.../
  • The Dotty World of Music Notation./
  • Carol Coles

July 2019

Picture

The Worm Forgives the Plough
31.5” x 23.5” (80 x 60 cm) / Oil on gessoed panel / £7500

The scene is the Oxfordshire plain, on the escarpment side of the nearby Chiltern Hills. The area is as plain a part of the plain as can be imagined. I have no idea why the aspect drew me to it. The title is taken from the classic John Stewart Collis book of the same name, published I believe, in 1973. A fine read, wonderfully enjoyable. It put me off hoeing, ricking, ploughing, digging and farming for life, for which relief much thanks. The manuscript of the book, I was delighted to find out, was originally rejected by twelve publishers. Finally, Jonathan Cape accepted it, but requested much revision. Collis waited a while, then returned the manuscript largely unchanged, thanking the publisher for their suggestions. Jonathan Cape replied saying they were ‘delighted with the improvements’. Attaboy, Jonathan. There's a political plan to cover this area of Oxfordshire with 3000 new homes. It will no doubt happen. Shame. the painting was short-listed for inclusion in the RWA Annual Open Exhibition 2019, then rejected.
​[email protected]  07881 908903

GALLERY

  • Home
  • About JK
  • Gallery 1
    • Dune
    • The Winter's Tale
    • The Raft
    • Vespers
    • Dupuytrens
    • Farewell to Stockevik
    • Gallery 2
    • Gran Via
    • Carriers
    • Isolation
    • La Malvinie
    • 16 Walpole
    • The Ghost Tanker
    • The Shipping Forecast
    • The Didcot Interpretation
    • Site
    • Lake Keitele
    • Tom Stoppard
    • The Maybe Man
    • Double Self Portrait With Knees
    • Post Ironic Iron Horse
    • Terminus
    • Cleared to Land
    • Matins
    • The Worm Forgives the Plough
    • Isolation
    • Red Spotty
    • Landed
  • Prints
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Landed
  • Et Cetera
  • doc, can you.../
  • The Dotty World of Music Notation./
  • Carol Coles