Kenny McKendry, ‘In a Ditchling Garden-John Vernon Lord’
KENNY MCKENDRY RP: MY TEACHER
Blinking into the light of my first real encounter of a genuine artistic genius stepped John Vernon Lord in the distant foothills of 1983.
Arriving at what was then Brighton Polytechnic, later to become The University of Brighton, I had thought it the smart move to follow my artistic endeavours in the only pure Illustration Degree in the UK. A move that for a while was to prove fruitful in the pre computer technology world. Little did I know I was in fact on the very tail end of the long illustrious tradition of ‘organic’ illustration. Luckily John was allocated to me as my personal tutor. Later, for a time so would John’s great friend and gentleman Raymond Briggs. Naively, as a very young man before Google and such like, escaping the dark days of the ‘Troubles’ I was at first quite blasé with my encounter of such talent. This was to my advantage as John’s pedigree did not stand in the way of the man I was to know. Of which later.
Mere mega world changing technologies such as computer power and Ai are but dew on the cricket green of John’s quantum outlook and mind blowing capabilities, if I may borrow from Raymond Briggs:
‘He sees the mystery in the most banal, everyday objects and places…..mentally escaping into his own interior dream world. Some pictures are incredibly intricate designs worthy of medieval manuscript. It’s a wonder that someone living in the hectic world of today could produce work of such concentration. There are other pictures which are in the same vein as modern abstract art. If they were greatly enlarged and on a gallery wall, they would hold their own in comparison to anything being produced today.’
This ‘roaring’ stillness is what broke through to me. As an oil painter our work had little in common. I, continually ‘seeing’ then losing the insight to my own limitations. This achievement and loss of focus John taught me can in fact be a comforting strength, to quote from John:
‘Perhaps our limitations, as folk that draw, can also be our strengths. Is it, in fact, a combination of our strengths on the one hand and our weakness on the other that creates an individual spirit in our drawings? Is it this that gives a distinctive signature to our work?
Any deficiencies we may have in drawing and the way we overcome these inadequacies, can bring about a unique character to our images. Individuality is as much about shortcomings in our nature, or weakness, as strengths. Awkwardness in drawing is as interesting as fluency.’
The words of a wise man with a lifetime of looking and working and working and looking, an art philosopher as much as a practitioner.
John’s work is a constant pillar, a levelling presence to return to. He taught me acceptance and scope, patience and quiet self belief through his kind, gracious presence. I learned to ‘see’ to lift my appreciation to all forms of seeing, expression and practise. This was then revolutionary to me and still is. I should think John would not be aware of this effect. He is modest and self contained in his insight and so a great teacher through a strange kind of artistic osmosis.
Later, as a portrait painter, I was given the lovely opportunity to be commissioned to paint John.
I duly arrived in Ditchling and was put up in the garden cottage by John and his charming wife Deannie. For a week or so he sat for me each day, we reminisced, had a daily wander for a pint in The White Horse and occasionally sneaked off to CD shops in Hove. I was exposed to Bach, a beauty that has stayed with me. I later returned to my reference and painted John again for ‘In a Ditchling Garden’ finally feeling a little more equipped to do him justice.
The South Downs again beckon and I hope to see John again soon in The White Horse.
John is one of a kind, tall in stature and cavernous in Soul. A presence in art that fills art with presence.
Kenny McKendry RP, John Vernon Lord ‘Beneath the Tree’, ‘Finnegans Wake’, ‘Through the Looking Glass’ & From John’s Incredible Notebooks (details)
