IN MY EXPERIENCE - Article from One Life Magazine.

LANDSCAPE PAINTER PAUL KESSLING ON CROP CIRCLES, APPEASING BEES, AND THE DARKNESS WITHIN

Photograph by Tiina Tervo

I'M THE KING OF THE CASTLE Standing on the top of my Land Rover in a field of tall grass gives me a viewpoint across the landscape that you just don't get from ground level. The best sunsets are often seen from remote places, but I don't need complete solitude to paint the perfect sunset. I'd call myself quite a sociable artist, in fact. Even so, I craved space when I lived in London - you're so penned in by the buildings there - so moving to the country was the best thing for my art work.

FARMERS KNOW THEIR STUFF I don't go off-roading, but tend to cross over farm tracks to find the perfect spot to paint - once I've cleared it with the farmers, of course. They always have a fantastic breadth of knowledge about the surrounding landscape and often give me maps marked with the names of all the ancient fields’ ridgeways. There are sometimes places that are a challenge to get to - even for a Land Rover - but if you turn up in the middle of a field in one, then at least people think, 'Oh yeah, he's supposed to be there'! The Defender is also perfect for carting around all my gear, such as a Black & Decker Workmate - which makes the perfect easel in my opinion - and numerous bottles of coloured ink.

QUEENS COME THROUGH THE LETTER BOX  As a self -taught beekeeper I've learnt that the large colony of bees I maintain - up to 30,000 of them - tend to get a bit aggressive when the queen bee is ageing. This can be fixed by getting a new queen in, so I just place my order with the dealers on the net and a week later she is posted out, along with a few worker bees. They survive in something called a Butler cage: the envelopes literally buzz and the contents are ready to go straight into the hive.

IT'S EASY TO FAKE CROP CIRCLES  In an idle moment one evening in July this year, as I watched the sunset with my three girls, we decided to create our own 'alien happening'. We found it quite simple to make the perfect crop circle. With the youngest in the middle of the circle, acting as the 'peg' we all walked around her, holding hands and trampling the long grass to form the circle. I hasten to add it wasn't in a wheat field. We wouldn't have done it there - not without the farmer's permission, anyway!

TIGHTS DON'T FIX GAS LEAKS The best place I lived when studying in London was huge - perfect for doing my art work - but a really cheap and nasty housing association flat. The old Greek landlady matched the description of the place. She would just walk in unannounced, flanked by her two huge sons, and demand the rent. I had to call the gas board to get the flat condemned in the end, after one of the sons failed in his attempt to fix a gas leak with a pair of nylon stockings.

DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK In contrast to my rather colourful landscapes, the work of painters like Anselm Kiefer and Hughie O'Donoghue is what I admire. Kiefer is a slightly mad German Expressionist who paints landscapes reflecting the German identity in terms of angst about the war - his father saw active service in World War ll and it's this experience that's expressed in the work.

PAOLOZZI LOVED PIZZA The late Sir Eduardo Paolozzi was the reason why I applied for an MA in Ceramics and Glass at the Royal College of Art. He was fascinating to listen to because he studied in Paris and worked with some of my heroes: people like Picasso and Braque. He was incredible energetic and used to have lots of projects on the go at any one time. The owner of a famous Pizza restaurant chain was an avid collector of his work, so Paolozzi would take all of his students along with him to get free meals. We'd meet some of his art-world associates on these days too - he used to say that your artistic development was one thing, but that you'd never actually get anywhere unless you could talk about what you do to the people who matter.

One Life
November 2005