painting | Christopher Stott

From painting

Recent Clock Paintings

These two pieces will be part of my upcoming exhibition in Los Angeles at the Billis Williams Gallery, opening on February 24th.

My last exhibition in New York involved many large paintings, so this time around, I decided to work on a slightly smaller group of canvases.

Three Clocks & Pelican Classics / 18 x 36 inches / oil on canvas / 2024 / on the easel

Also, the black. Let’s talk about it. Years and years ago, I regularly set my work on deep black ground. I gradually phased that out and worked exclusively on white — or near-white grounds. In the past few years, I have done smaller paintings in black; it revealed my subject in a fresh and new way. So, above is the first of a slightly larger painting of what will become a new direction for my work.

Below, we have a neutral grey approach. Another way to make the subjects pop right off of the canvas.

Six Clocks – Folk Tales and Fables / 18 x 36 inches / oil on canvas / 2024 / on the easel

Off to New York City

Everything is framed and shipped to the George Billis Gallery. As I write this, many paintings are in transit, somewhere in the middle of the continent and scheduled to arrive at the gallery in New York on Monday morning.

When the paintings are in transit, I suffer from mild anxiety. It has happened a few times when the heavy-duty packaging has arrived damaged, and I dread to think of how it happens. But 9 times out of 10, everything goes as expected.

The show goes up on the gallery walls on October 3, and the reception is on Thursday, October 5, from 6pm – 8pm.

1926 Royal P Typewriter with Pencil & Black Telephone Receiver / framed

The Key Series

I just completed a series of three paintings for my upcoming exhibition in New York City. Three birds-eye view typewriters.

1928 Underwood Portable Standard Typewriter with Three Pencils / 24 x 36 inches / oil on canvas / 2023

I love painting the mechanical components of the machines.

1964 Olivetti-Underwood Lettera 32 Typewriter with Pencil & Book / 24 x 36 inches / oil on canvas / 2023

There will always be something charming and delightful in typewriters. Each piece is 2 feet tall and three feet wide. The typewriters are all depicted as life-size. My goal with these paintings is to have a viewer almost get a sense of being able to touch and use the typewriters.

1926 Royal P Typewriter with Pencil / 24 x 36 inches / oil on canvas / 2023

When I start each painting, it never fails that I end up slightly overwhelmed at the number of keys I’ve locked myself into painting. I once told someone that my ability to sit quietly and do something as tedious as painting 150 tiny circles and squares is probably the key to why I can paint as much as I do.

At Home

1957 Royal Quiet De Luxe Typewriter / 30 x 30 inches / oil on canvas / installed in a home

Happy to share this photo of my painting installed in a collector’s beautiful home. It is always a great feeling when you see where the paintings end up.

Around the World

Where ever you are around the world, I hope your summer is off to a great start.

This painting is slated to show at the upcoming Seattle art fair at the end of July with the Billis Williams Gallery.

Clock

A number of the clocks that I have come from the Ukraine. Last year, when war broke out, I was saddened to see that the sellers I have bought from in the past had to flee their homes, their lives and livelihoods becoming uncertain. However, I kept an eye on things and was excited to see that one of my favourite clock sellers had returned to her home in Kyiv and started her business again. So I bought some clocks from her and was surprised at how fast they arrived.

This is one of the clocks I purchased, and I liked how the face incorporated Roman numerals. It’s a simple breakdown of the simple shapes. An exercise in geometry, if you will.

Green Clock & Antique Book / 16 x 16 inches / oil on canvas / 2023 / on the easel

Like the trophy paintings I shared last week, this one also inspired a more complex composition. Featuring a series of randomly selected books. I like the poetry a group of tiles can suggest, I like the ideas that one can imagine within the pages, like a treasure waiting to be opened.

Green Clock & Antique Books / 40 x 30 inches / oil on canvas / 2023 / on the easel

These two paintings are in New York City showing at the George Billis Gallery. Happy to report that the large one already found its way to a collector’s home before it had a chance to hit the gallery wall.

Trophy

I recently completed another small series of larger, more complicated pieces inspired by small studies that I have had hanging around the studio for about seven months. I picked up these trophies a few years ago and painted them a few times because the textures within the tarnished surfaces themselves are what I enjoy.

Above, we have a 16-inch square study for a much larger 40 x 30-inch piece below. These pieces are currently being shown in New York City at the George Billis Gallery.

Three Antique Trophies & Books / 40 x 30 inches / oil on canvas / 2023 / on the easel

Speedwriter

I’m on a bit of a typewriter painting frenzy. This is the fifth typewriter I’ve been working on for the past few months. I find it interesting that I’ve chosen to focus on these machines while much of the world becomes obsessed with artificial intelligence and leaving all the actual writing up to robots.

I think the best writing only ever came from when it was a deep-thinking human act — and a physical one, where your whole body was involved. So I contend that these typewriter paintings have gone from a nostalgic admiration for old machines to a defiant skepticism of new technology.