Cruel and curious a major part of my artistic journey.

Cruel and Curious, the concept and vision of Cai Waggett of Hickory Nines, and lucky for me just up the road has just had it’s third show, ‘Hinterland’. Held in the barns at Stowe Barton, a medieval farmstead owned by the National Trust adds an instant air of mystery, but it is more about the camaraderie; a band of people that together with the  artists have created such a special event that is more about experience and atmosphere than a selling or commercial stage.

It’s beauty lies in the undiscovered; the knowledge that there is so much more; and  that the depth of creativity  is bottomless. The show  held over two days at the end of September has had exposure but remains a somewhat elusive event that you have stumbled across and feels very special and almost humbling.

The huge walls and lofty barns give shelter from the Atlantic coast; the smell of rum fuelled coffee, music and the magic of film projected onto the old stone walls makes for a laid back unpretentious atmosphere as artists mix with friends, family and make new acquaintances, bringing their own unique take on the theme in individual spaces side by side.

On a personal level, the artistic journey with cruel and curious over the past three years has been influencial  to say the least. It has been a time of experimentation, fresh materials and endless ideas with enthusiasm that knows no end.

The first year was about finding my feet with a mix of paintings and 3D work using mermaid purses in light boxes. Last year still going with the sea theme, ideas were driven by the huge Altantic storms of the winter which gave me endless pieces of driftwood including broken beach huts and loose pieces of ancient petrified forest that I mixed with resins and painted over.

This year the theme of Hinterland, with the valleys, the trees, impressions of the land behind inspired a direction of total contrast and I used aluminium panels to apply paint. The image of a caravan overgrown in a hedge sparked the idea of ‘Home’.

Mounted on perspex

Solace

Bivvy and Barbed wire

shed

Sunbeam in a thicket

Most of my work is focused on the coast. It’s where I’m drawn, always to the sea, but when I go inland I love the pure feeling of nature which feels it still has the upper hand and not us, where people are living in harmony with it.  This is their secret to a simple life and they do not always need to find a home in bricks and mortar.

The time of day when you feel this harmony most is at sunrise and sunset or dimity as the light fades.  The wind stills and your other senses are more heightened as you are aware of smells and sounds and not just sights. Another year done, it is one of the highlights of the year and is a meeting place for some of the area’s more enlightened characters.

Two of the heavies

Balanced in yellow

Hanna Backlands multimedia installation

Daniel Scotts Macquette

Old barn window

 

Next year’s theme is a secret, but lets just say I’m already planning and without wishing to wile time away, can’t wait.

 

Reworking some old boards with surprising results.

Last summer whilst at the barn studio, I played around with oil bars. Big thick chubby sticks of solid oil colour that were cumbersome and either too soft or too hard. I used them by scraping off colour with a palette knife and applying it directly to the board.

It was what I called painting interludes, the little play paintings with colour and ideas that required little concentration or thought and I was quite pleased with them at the time.

After Christmas to get back into the swing after quite a break from painting, I looked at them again and had completely fallen out of love with them.  They didn’t reflect the quality of the oilbar and looked contrived, so I mixed some traditional oils and reworked them.

What a refreshing start to the year!… new ideas, new approach and looser work.  I’m thinking it might have been inspired by what was underneath, so it wasn’t time wasted and that this approach works well for  me.  It’s like the foundations or scaffolding to a controlled idea in which I then have the confidence to lay over something far more painterly.

I had trouble finding the reworked version of lightness and fullness as it had changed so radically. I hunted everywhere before I found a little glimpse of green that suggested it’s previous life.

So here they are, the before and afters. (left = before and right = after)

Brooding skies and infinity of the seascape

Magenta Nights

summer warmth

sunshine and showers small oil on board.

Lightness and fullness

pink summer seas

 

 

My Mind is a Sea of Ideas

I’m usually painting flat out this time of year as my solo exhibition slot at the Castle has always been in the spring, but this year I’m not exhibiting until August.

I’ve been busy gathering images and ideas for future artwork and playing around with some ideas. I had hoped  this will all come together to provide me with some direction as I feel I’m swimming in a tidal pool amongst a flotilla of wildly opposing ideas which come and go with my mood and the day.

But as I am writing this, I realise I quite like being in this pool of ideas that are swirling around me and come and go with the tide. It’s MY pool, and I’m taking ownership of these ideas.  They aren’t going anywhere.

I am very influenced by how I feel on the day I am painting and rather than try and find a focus or direction to swim in, think that maybe this is how I work best and I need to be in this pool. By experimenting and trying new things it’s all a great experience, keeps variety and interest  and motivation going and allows more creative freedom.

For a case in point, I am very taken with some photos of the past few days and want to start some larger wilder paintings.  These might have to wait for barn studio where I will have more space, so I will be swimming with them in my own creative pool for a few weeks yet and hope that they feel as alive then as they do now.

 

Making friends with Aluminium, a new painting surface

Aluminium is not the first painting surface that would naturally spring to mind, and had I not seen it painted on, would probably never have considered it.  In fact, I have realised that most of my new directions have been borne out of requests or challenges from other people, exhibitions or commissions.  I know now that this needs to change. It’s far too easy to stay in the comfort zone with what you know, but it’s so much more exciting to break into new territories.

This story started in August which was good timing, as I had the space and the better weather for this project up at the Barn.  I was approached with the idea of commission for a new restaurant.  Tailoring the piece to the space, I took photos of the colour scheme and a perfect size was decided on.  Long and quite narrow, the artwork measurement required was 1700mm x 170 mm.

A large canvas would be needed and bespoke made and this was when I had the idea of aluminium.  It’s light, contemporary and has no chance of warping or moving and would be ideal in this situation.  My clients at the time were not convinced and I needed to convince myself too,  so I took off a friend who has is a  metal fabricator and he gave some advice on how to prep it and a small off cut to practice on.

I needed to use acrylics as there was not enough time to let oil dry.  Mediums helped to give it body and gloss but it just stays on the tops.  In one sense it’s not forgiving at all as it almost slips around and discovered that once on it was best untouched. Brushes felt alien on this hard surface, but sponges and rollers were perfect and picking up several colours, they blended into a harmonious though unpredictable sweep when laid down on the surface.

(The preparation is slightly boring, but for anyone reading that wants to know,it is also imperative to get it right.  The metal needs to be etch primed to hold the paint and to do this you have to rub the metal down with fine grade wet and dry sandpaper and household soap to thoroughly clean the surface and provide a key. You can see where you have done it as it takes on a brushed aluminium look and quality.  Then you apply etching primer evenly over the whole surface right to the edges.  Best done with a mask and outside, it’s pretty innocuous stuff and incredibly fine. I also had trouble finding it in anything other than grey. Once a couple of coats have been applied its touch dry pretty quick and after leaving to harden overnight, you are ready to go.)

Sanding and lots of soap

Etching primer applied

Like most of my work, I find it hard to work to a specific idea with a strong framework of design. My art comes from within and whilst I can work to a certain colour idea, it has to be something fluid and able to change and evolve.  What started out as something quite abstract, it evolved into a semi abstract seascape with dark waters and a distant coastline to give some perspective with strong light added for contrast and to draw the eye in lots of brights.

I was working on the Cruel and Curious at the same time, and think this slightly influenced the painting which in hindsight was probably inevitable as I get so drawn into it, and it didn’t get finished before our holiday to Portugal or indeed before I left the barn studio, but like most things, it needed to be left to come back to, to stop getting focused on detail and overworking .

There is more scope for working on this surface and I am very keen to give it a go. The paint can be moved around and wiped off in an instant. Texture provides a tension in the surface and once dry it is very durable, so could be worked over and over. Alternatively you can work with the smoothness and keep some of the almost enamel qualities of working on metal.   Plenty of thought for the future in trying to work out how I and this surface become intimate friends.

In the meantime, here is the finished painting.  The story in one sense didn’t have a happy ending.  The restaurant didn’t quite work out, but both my clients, nor I have regrets.  We both learnt a lot which added to our experiences and will take us forward in new directions and I’m sure I will find a home for it somewhere. Oh.. and the new title. “Hot Summers Night”

 

 

‘Somewhere Out There’, a painting on found wood and others

Riding on the success of Cruel and Curious I, ideas had been coming and going throughout the year as to what to do for this years event. The winter storms provided me with the materials.  I picked up some lovely pieces of driftwood which had been rough and tumbled in the sea and also some pieces of the beach huts that got battered and broken.

After leaving it in the rain to wash out the salt and then priming, I started a few seascapes, but they just looked too ordinary.  The texture of the wood demanded more texture in the paint and also colour.  By chance, the changes in the beaches locally meant that the seabed was exposed as the sand had been dragged away and it provided me with a rich dark clay like pigment.

 

Collecting pigment from the beach

Mixed with acrylic gel medium it spread as a gritty rough texture in an unpredictable way.  During the process, I added colour with orange, burnt sienna and  yellow ochre which just added more life and depth.

applying texture

Rubbing over colour

Detail of a section

Somewhere Out There

‘Somewhere Out There’  was the first piece to be completed. The shape of the wood was so easy to work with. Differing colours of blue and mauve with some silver were spattered across it, sitting on top and slipping down the sides of the textured areas. I was so pleased with it, this led me to working on the following pieces too.

I worked on all the pieces at various times, the wood and mood dictating the painting.  Collision and Crash were very inspired by Maggi Hamblings wave paintings, full of texture and colour with layer after layer adding more blues and then warmer colours , corals and yellows to bring it forward and give form.

CRASH

COLLISION

 

The small panels already had the shape of rock and cliff but it was challenging to get the rich depth and weight of rock.

High Tide,

Gulley

Looking Down

Millook

‘Somewhere out there’ became the centre piece of my exhibit at the Cruel and Curious Art Event held over the weekend of Sept 26th/27th and sold on the first night. More photos of the night can be seen here

My Stall at Cruel and Curious II

The other pieces are now part of the October Showcase at the National Trust Cafe and Shop at Boscastle.

 

 

 

The Shellseekers Art Exhibition in Bude

The brainchild of Debbie Cousins and Lynne and Martin Holehouse of Seventh Wave Gallery, The Shellseekers Art Exhibition grew from a tiny seed of an idea over a  year ago, and has finally come to fruition with a wonderful collection of Cornish Art on show at Bude Castle Gallery and Cafe.  It was no accident that it was to coincide with the 90th Birthday of Rosamunde Pilcher, the author or many cornwall based novels, and although she could not attend due to birthday celebrations, I hope she gets to see some of it online.

 

Rosamunde’s books are all set in Cornwall and loved the world over, but particularly by the people of Germany. A film company serialises the stories for Sunday afternoon viewing, which makes Cornwall a very popular destination to visit spots where the filming and storylines take place and it is hoped that Bude might also be part of this success story.

I haven’t read the book, but knew the story and have watched an TV version on DVD. Based on the life of the the main character Penelope, and her relationship with her family past and present, all linked by a painting called “The Shellseekers”

I chose two paintings to submit.
With each title,  Debbie has cleverly taken extracts from the book and you can feel Rosamunde Pilcher in the room with her lovely poetic writing.

Here are my two entries with my inspiration for the paintings and Debbies chosen excerpts from the book.

Sea Gazing

“….but the breeze was cool & smelt salty. Reaching the main road, they crossed it and stood for a moment gazing”

Having always lived in Cornwall, the times Penelope spent on the cliffs overlooking the sea contemplating life struck a chord with me. It’s a place where you feel so at one with the elements and nature, an inunterrupted view to the horizon gives you space to breath, think and contemplate life. This painting is 130 x 110 cm acrylic and oil on a deep unframed canvas.

Return to Cornwall

“….. and all this time she told herself that one day, sometime she would return”

This painting is based on one of my favourite views over Widemouth Bay towards Black Rock. In the film with Vanessa Redgrave, Penelope returns to Cornwall, as a young woman to see her father and then again in old age. The drive down to the coast reminded me of the joy it brings when you are greeted with breaktaking views over the sea and coastline.  It is 60 x 90cm acrylic and oil on a deep unframed canvas.

The exhibition runs until the 4th October, so plenty of time to get there. There is a facebook page with lots of detail, links and updates here.

 

Going Abstract

Its been a full on month, May. Everything happened at once; the exhibition, the trip to Italy and then a weekend booked at the Newlyn Art School for ‘Colour and Abstraction’

And in some ways I was looking forward to this more than anything.   My artwork has become looser and my appreciation for abstract  greater.  As I have grown in awareness as a person, I have also grown as an artist, and feel a deeper and deeper meaning and connection to the mark making and colour and the whole process of painting which in turn has made me less focused on what I see and more focused on how I interpret it.  I know though that I’m not ready for pure abstract just yet.. feeling a need to keep something slightly figurative or realistic. But after working on this last exhibition and gaining more confidence with my medium  if feel less precious about pleasing others and more willing to take risks.

So the timing was perfect to go away for the weekend and work with as much paint as I wanted quickly and vigorously using a range of tools.

Gareth Edwards our tutor actively encourages breaking rules and mixing things that you know don’t really like each other such as with oil paint, turps and pva glue and using colours I’d normally shy away from or feel uncomfortable with.

Very quickly peoples own way of using the brushes and paints developed and although I came away with three totally different pieces, they somehow felt connected.  It’s all about developing your own language with paint and I’m definately in the middle of this process.

Absolutely loved it!

Experiments with colour combinations

Lots of mark making

Drawn to blues again

 

“The View from the Shore”

After the Amsterdam trip, time just flew. It was a time to get the exhibition together, finish two large seascapes, do some promotion, help out with Bude Arts and Music and Summer Festival organising and say goodbye to our beloved Bongo.

We’ve had the bongo for 8 years! and had some great little trips in it, so with lots of memories it was hard to say goodbye, but although still an amazing workhorse, it drank fuel and was getting a little rusty around the edges. I was also concerned about getting my artwork around.  A new vehicle depended on being able to get my largest latest piece in the back. At 150cm x 110 cm, we managed to find the perfect car, what we were looking for a BIG little car ( if that makes sense?!)

The exhibition date was set for 28th April – 16th May and I needed to be uber organised as I was leaving for Italy the day after it opened. Excitement ensued when I was contacted by a gallery in Plymouth to take my work. It did suddenly take the pressure off a little having put so much into this one exhibition.

Friends Jane and Hannah helped me hang all 26 pieces in around 2 hours.  Definately getting the hang of this now. It looked fabulous and lots of people came to the private viewing.  I had some lovely pieces written in the Barefoot Cornwall Art Blog and Cornish Guardian and feedback was incredible.  My style is definately developing and with a trip to Italy painting green and a weekend booked for Abstract at the Newlyn Art School, my art practice looks set to be challenged over the coming months… Bring it on!

“The View from the Shore” title piece

Summer Puddles

Me in full flow!

Gorse in morning sunshine

Don, who helped so much xx

Midnight sparkle

Frisky

Mingling

Blustery

Paintings for sale

Hercules Storm inspired

Willoughby Gallery, Castle Bude

On returning from my Italy trip.  Read more about it here…..     I’d sold 6 pieces and 2 prints, with the large title piece selling just afterwards. A great result.

 

 

 

It started with a Sketch. “Sea Gazing”, the work in Progress

It started with a fleeting glimpse of winter light over the sea with a heavy sky, a snapshot put to memory whilst walking the cliff path between Summerleaze and Crooklets Beach  on a winters afternoon in January.

Quick watercolour sketch from memory , the starting point

I wanted it on a large scale and put some initial colour down on a piece of unstretched canvas. The canvas was thenstretched and measured 130 x 110 cm, so I found myself straddling it when it wasn’t on the easel.  I like to move the paint around and let it do it’s own thing; create surprises and happy accidents

As I started painting, the perspective just wasn’t right and it was sending mixed messages.  Don thought it was the middle of the breakwater and I could see that would work, so several photographs later, I changed the angle completely and decided to record the progress.

1.  Added some rocks to left and drippy foreground
2. Depth to the sea, highlights to sky and sea and different rocks. The perspective was wrong.
3. I added the breakwater base and worked on the cliffs and mid ground rocks, highlighting.
4. The bigger pebbles of the back of the breakwater added and more work on the sea and highlights to horizon
5. Definition to the water and foreground and softening the light on the sea and Finished!

Loose Foreground developing

Adding rocks and sea changes

Changing the rocks and adding breakwater foreground

Highlights to the rocks and creating pebbles

Movement in the waves and finished

Completed only four days before the show opening, it is now hanging at the Willoughby Gallery, The castle as part of my solo exhibition titled “The View From The Shore” on until the 16th May.

“Sea Gazing” 130 x 110cm on canvas

 

Boscastle Showcase #CruelandCuriousSea

Off the back of the Cruel and Curious Art show last September, the National Trust shop and cafe at Boscastle hit on the great idea of showcasing the artists over the next year, with monthly slots.

Starting in December with talented illustrator Jago Silver, I am now set up for January, with another month long show  planned in October.

Boscastle in winter is very atmospheric but sheltered and very much quieter than the summer. The National Trust Cafe and shop occupy a very old longhouse type building next to the river leading down to the harbour.

I selected seven pieces to hang along with the mermaid chandalier and wreath and once hung, looked very neat and suited the location well. This is all supported by a slideshow running with pics of my work and the cruel and curious art show event.

 

So if you are Boscastle way, pop in and take a look and say hi to Jon Gerrish, the manager who has been so instrumental in making this happen.

If you want to follow more of the National Trust in North Cornwall, take a look at their excellent blog here.

North Cornwall National Trust

 

 

Sea Paintings blown in by ‘Hercules’

As a huge winter storm called ‘Hercules’ powered across the Atlantic from the U.S. it sent huge swell  hitting the Cornish shores these past few days.  It’s lovely to see but is also very destructive as we have seen across the newspapers and social media sites. In Bude, there has been damage to the breakwater, the entrance to the lock gates and the beach huts at Crooklets with stones and all sorts of debris being tossed and thrown around in the surf.

I could take photographs and use them for reference, but there is nothing quite like painting spontaneously, with the energy of the sea and wind in your head, grabbing visual references, where are the whitiest whites, what colour is the sea today, the fast ever changing movement and mood as the waves race in.  Yesterday was rain and low cloud, whereas today there were beautiful seahorses and luminious lights on the foaming waves.

To make it feasible and afford some shelter, I cleared out the back of the van to make a makeshift studio. Lifting the boot, I had a great view of the sea and if I just rested my foot against the edge of the canvas, it stopped it being whipped up by the wind and being sent twirling into the raging surf below. I did forget a knife to open my paints, but a with a little thought, the seatbelt clip made a great alternative.

Two hours of painting on two canvas’s produced two very different pieces of work which will be finished off in the studio along with the two I started yesterday. Four paintings inspired by the storm and more ideas in the pipeline, this could be forming the basis for my next exhibition in April .

View from the Van

View from the van

View across Crooklets Beach to the Breakwater

Me in my bijou studio aka, the bongo boot

The stormy seas I’m painting

Oops forgot a knife, use the seatbelt to open the pots

Painting underway

Work back in the studio for completion

 

SunShiney Day, Widemouth Bay

The Pop Up Gallery was so much fun, and I so loved writing about it, I’ve just realised I missed the most important photograph.  The photo of my favourite painting that I sold  This is supposed to be about my ART after all.

Here she is… Sunshiney Day, Widemouth Bay.  Captures the windy atmosphere in bright sunshine, which is what makes this place so special.

 

No better place on Earth

Summer has finally arrived!  My exhibition is half way through and I have a comment book to die for and have sold five paintings so far. Don and I have both had birthdays this month as well as the opening of a month long exhibition and a 30th wedding anniversary in April. It’s been a year of celebrations topped off by glorious weather. Bude has the look of Elvenny – cornish for ‘sparkle’ in the summer.

Beautiful Bude

Early morning, Bude

 

 

Bude is unique and there is a move to keep it that way. This doesn’t mean not developing or taking it forward, but there needs to be a clear direction. It isn’t a through town, North Cornwall is surrounded by sea on 3/4 of it. It has to be more self sustaining in terms of jobs and supporting local businesses. Transport links need to be improved, but we don’t want to go with big planners ideas of making generic identikit towns all over Cornwall. We are often forgotten by the county council down in Truro. Localism is the new buzz word and this is very appropriate to Budes needs. The future looks bright!

 

Outdoor studio in the February Sunshine

February often rewards us with a few sunny days and offshore winds and weather out to sea, bring in big surf. It also means that the beach hut is sheltered and in the mid day sun, we were getting at least 18C of warmth.

detail of barrel rock to add to painting

I cut a large piece of canvas at least 1.5 metre square, packed up the paints taking my largest brushes and set up down at the beach.

painting station

 

Not a great view, Look at all those stones… but I was painting the sea!

I painted for at least an hour and a half, hardly looking at the sea, but letting creativity and all the senses take over,  splattering and splashing, adding water and inks and looking up periodically to get an idea of the colour.

This was as far as I got and the painting will be finished at home.

Aah! … thought I might have to stay all night; it couldn’t be moved while it was wet and then how was I going to get it home?  I brought it down rolled up. Oh how us artists have to suffer. We got the chairs out and had our first barbeque of the year and asked the family down. By the time we left, it was dry enough to move and we managed to tease it into the back of the van and then the dilema  was to find somewhere to put it at home.

It’s now on the studio floor and I’m having to step over it until I can finish it, dry it and get it to the framers. No detailed pics… sorry!  want to save this one for the ooh’s and aah’s at the exhibition.

Barbeque time. 1st of the year, with family.

I’m writing this two days later. It’s still dry, but boy! has the temperature dropped. Have to grab these opportunities when they come. 🙂

 

No Snow, just Winter Sunshine

  Bude rarely sees the snow and this January was no exception. A little snow dust was all I saw one morning. But we did have a few lovely sunshiny days and out of the wind it was quite warm.

I packed up the painting gear and headed to the beach.  I took some handmade watercolour paper and dusted off my watercolours.  The sky and sea were put down very quickly and the handmade paper holds the pigment really well. Painting outdoors meant for quick work as it dried quickly and colour mixing had to be quick.  The waves were dark green underneath and getting this colour was quite a challenge, but wow.. has it made for an interesting painting.   This is being worked on back in the studio and will form part of my exhibition in May.  I am thinking of grouping the work done outside together.  I think it will be different and quite apparent it was created and worked with the immediacy of painting outside.

By lunchtime, the air was chilling off and the sun getting lower.  Some dark clouds started to appear and blanked out the sun very suddenly.  How things can change so quickly.  Before I left I took a couple of photo and this one shows the dramatic atmospheric skies of a winter beach on this North Cornish coastline

Taken mid afternoon when dark clouds suddenly appeared

 

Marketing, Networking and New Prints

Facebook, Twitter and  Pinterest are now vital parts of my marketing strategy.  Oh.. hear me say that!.  I’m no businesswoman;  I like to paint and create; but for a few minutes a day, I can get in touch with the world and the web is the way to get your work out there.  And .. I don’t mean just nationally. Most interestingly, most of my followers are people in and around Cornwall, but who access me via the web and are great at promoting what they see if they like it through sharing and tweeting.

Through facebook, I was contacted by an interior designer about producing a range of prints for some very high spec holiday cottages.  I hadn’t ventured into the area of prints before, but with the help of a great printer, I now have  around 18 images available as limited edition prints up to 60 cm x 90 cm  printed on bockingford and fabriano papers.  They look absolutely stunning and I am so pleased.

Here I am at the Framers signing and titling 14 prints ready for framing.