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SYP Part 5

The Porthmeor Series

Having spent some time in St Ives in Cornwall I had lots of photographs and sketches of the rocks in the area. In particular I was attracted to a group of rocks at one end of Porthmeor beach next to The Island. The variation in form and colour of these rocks provides a kaleidoscope of possible images from which abstracted interpretations can be made. The resulting images are very different from those I had found through my close-up examinations of the pebbles and shells of Shingle Street reflecting the different geologies and landscapes of the two geographical areas. 

Porthmeor Beach, St Ives Cornwall

The range of shapes, textures and colours found in the rocks is quite amazing.

Working in my new studio also allowed me to experiment with different ways of approaching my practice and in particular I was able to work with textures much more freely. I was keen to explore the three dimensionality of the rock surfaces and to this end I have been using materials such as tiling adhesive and grout laid onto the support which I then work back into in various ways and cutting through layers of acrylic paint.

Firstly I go through a process of studying all the photographs and selecting parts of the images that I feel could make interesting abstract shapes as I had done with the stones and shells from the Suffolk coast. 

These particular Cornish rocks have strong lines formed by the geological process that have shaped the coastline over billions of years and I wanted to capture this element of their structure. 

There then followed a process of applying layers of tile paste with acrylic paint which is then sanded back and other colours applied to build up the structure.

The final painting:

Porthmeor I – Impact 

Mixed media on canvas (100 x 50 cm)

As a second work I wanted to push the boundaries of abstracting the image in terms of form and colour whilst still keeping the feel of the rock. The image I chose had groups of barnacles at various places on the rock and I used these as a structural element to the painting. 

I also decided to further emphasise the lines and use them to create a more linearly structured image.

Porthmeor II – Segments

Mixed media on canvas (61 x 51 cm)

A third painting was based on a section of the rocks that had a feel of different strata almost like a cross section of the geology with defined lines of separation of the different coloured rocks.

I decided to emphasise this layering by using a horizontal format on a 50 x 100 cm canvas.

At the time there was much discussion about the government’s decision to grant more licences for North Sea oil extraction and this made me think about how the dark stripes could represent the oil-bearing layers beneath the seabed. For this reason I decided to title the work ‘Leave it There’.

Porthmeor III – Leave It There 

Mixed media on canvas (50 x 100 cm)

For a fourth piece I chose a different section of the rocks that was more uniform in colour but which had interesting patterns. 

This section of rock seemed to have a figure with an animal of some sort and to me it felt like a witch with her familiar and so I decided to base a painting around this theme. 

I wanted to try cutting into the base layer of tile cement using some lino-print cutting tools and so used MDF as a support as I was worried that using canvas might be too risky.

Having applied and textured the cement and smoothed the rougher parts using a random orbital sander I cut in the main figure outlines.

I then worked more into the surface before using a dry-brush technique to bring out more of the texture.

Porthmeor IV – The Witch Rock

Mixed media on MDF (80 x 40 cm)

This process of working into the cement then using a dry-brush technique to enhance the textures was something that I wanted to explore further. I had a stock of A3 sized 3mm thick MDF sheets that were sealed and gesso-ed and so I decided to use these as a basis for experimentation. 

Looking through my photographs, there were a couple that I found intriguing, one was a very monochrome image of a group of limpets on a rock and another was an image of coloured stones in a sandy gap between a group of rocks.

Unlike barnacles that attach themselves permanently to a rock and feed by waving fern-like tendrils from a hole at the top, limpets move around grazing on the surface of the rocks. In the image above it looks as if the limpets are contained within a depression in the rock as if they were corralled in a paddock. 

The painting uses the same technique of cutting, sanding and layering followed by dry-brushing to emphasise the texture.

Porthmeor V – The Grazers

Mixed media on MDF (42 x 29 cm)

This image I selected as a basis for a painting for the shape and colour of the stones. I simplified the shapes and decided to emphasise the green and reddish-brown stones to create a more abstract image.

As well as the dry-brushing to give texture I also shaded the rocks to give a three dimensional feel to the image. To paint the sand I tried various methods but decided in the end that I would just have to paint the individual grains separately using a fine point brush and a mixture of colours.

Porthmeor VI – Green Stone Red Stone

Mixed media on MDF (42 x 29 cm)


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SYP Part 5

Moving On

The day after our exhibition had finished, I heard from my sister that my father had finally accepted that at 99 and now totally blind he wasn’t going to be able to leave the care home and return to his cottage in Norfolk, and had therefore decided to sell it. Given the demand for cottages in Burnham Market we realised that things could move very fast. This had implications for me as I had been using his garage as a studio for my oil painting as the solvents were causing health problems for my partner at home. 

I set about trying to find a studio that I could rent in Cambridge and I knew that St Barnabas Press (a printmaking centre) sometimes had studios available so a quick visit and chat to the owner meant that he had my details if anything came available. I knew turnover tended to be rather slow, so I was very surprised to get a message just a couple of weeks later to say that someone had had to move out at short notice and was I interested? 

So the long story short is that I’m in the process of moving in to my new studio space and really looking forward to being able to work in oils again and also to being in an environment with other artists, including painters, printmakers and a writer, and another bonus is that the print workshop also doubles as a frame makers.

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SYP Part 5

The Exhibition

Once we had the posters up and the A board out on the pavement we were ready to open. The first thing to say is that the exhibition looked good, it was the first time that I had seen my paintings up on the wall together and I was pleased with how they looked. The time taken in working out the arrangement of the works using photoshop mock-ups had been time well spent.

The entrance area was set up with cards in the new display racks, business cards and catalogues available and the visitor book on the desk. 

The street outside (early in the morning):

The passageway:

The main entrance:

Inside the entrance area (the blurb): 

The entrance to the main gallery:

The main gallery:

A clockwise tour of the gallery:

And of course ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop’:

Once the exhibition was open we had a steady stream of visitors. Over the six days we had nearly three hundred visitors.


The Feedback

The feedback we got from people was amazing. Everyone seemed to enjoy some aspect of the exhibition and the decision to have a joint exhibition definitely payed off. The interaction between the landscape photographs and the close observation of my paintings was well appreciated. 

With regard to my paintings one thing that I found pleasing was that of the 19 paintings on display there were only three or four that nobody picked out as being their favourite one. It was also interesting to see how people looked at the stones and shells I had put out in a dish and then studied the paintings to find the parts that I had used as source material. Some visitors also had children with them and when I pointed out that each of the Shingle Plant paintings had a ‘hag stone’ somewhere amongst the shingle they had great fun trying to spot them – a sort of stone ‘Where’s Wally’ game.

It was also great to chat with some of the other local artists. A local well-known contemporary artist Chris Newson, a protégé of Maggi Hambling’s, came in for a chat. He had had a solo show in the same gallery three weeks earlier which had been very successful, and we discussed how best to run an exhibition. (He related how he had sold a painting to Therese Coffey the environment secretary and Suffolk MP by saying if she bought it he would vote Conservative in the local elections – he didn’t). Chris has his own gallery in Leiston, a town nearby.

https://artistchris.co.uk

It is a strange feeling putting on an exhibition for the first time, the paintings are put up on the walls and people come in to see them and, in some ways, to judge them, and by doing so one feels like they are also judging me. It was immensely gratifying therefore that the first person who came through the door on the first day gave such positive feedback. She was particularly taken with my Phoenix triptych calling it “absolutely stunning!” and we discussed if it was for sale. I had marked it down as ‘Not for Sale’ in the catalogue as it is one of my personal favourites. She had to fly out to Ireland that evening for a board meeting but took my details so who knows? Maybe I can be persuaded to part with it.

The visitor book had space for comments as well as allowing us to build up a list of emails for our planned 6 monthly newsletter. We have also received other feedback via email and text since the end of the exhibition.

A selection of comments:

“Absolutely stunning!” L. McM.

“Fantastic show! Impressive and inspiring works.” N. S.

“Great exhibition” V. B.

“Amazing images” G.B 

“All good work” D.H.

A very pleasing response.


What did we Learn?

The main lesson we took from the experience is that setting up an exhibition from scratch involves a lot of work!

It also doesn’t come cheap, however we decided that this would be a showcase event rather than a shop as it is more important as a learning process and a way of getting known and making contacts, building networks and generally getting into the art scene. As it was it would have only taken a couple more sales (which still may happen) to cover our costs. Also much of the expenditure went on building up the necessary ‘infrastructure’ for future exhibitions such as the display racks, the card payment readers, re-usable frames and the greetings cards which we can sell at other events.

What might we do differently? 

We had been undecided about the catalogue and I feel we fell between two stools, not knowing how many people would turn up we went for the minimum print run, but even then we found that people would use them to look around the exhibition but then put them back when they left. Some people asked if it was okay to keep them and by the end we had got rid of nearly a hundred but that leaves us with over a hundred that will have to go into the recycling as they are all dated and have the gallery logo on the front. Also as they are A4 size people seemed more reluctant to take them away as they were awkward to carry. 

Another time we would definitely have a Private View with a lot more local advertising of the event. As we were expecting the OCA study visit on the Saturday we thought it might be too much to have another event as well, but talking to a few other artists who had exhibited there it seems that that is the time to make the most sales. 

We also suffered by having the exhibition over the one weekend in May that wasn’t a bank holiday. Aldeburgh was very quiet, something that several of the locals remarked upon, the fact that there was no queue at the famous fish and chip shop on a Saturday was almost unheard of! Early booking of a prime time seems to be a good idea.

At the end of the day it was a fantastic experience, and we both learnt such a lot. It has done wonders for my confidence with regard to my art and I have also learnt a lot about what is essentially setting up a business. We both now feel that we can move ahead.