Landscapes 2023

This project follows on from my first Landscapes exhibition, which took place at Old Hunstanton Village Hall last year. It seeks to demonstrate the parallels between colour and mood, exploring North Norfolk scenes in varying states. Over the past year I have collected inspiration in the form of images and sketches for references for my paintings. After spending every summer here as a child, the creation of this collection stimulated a nostalgic experience for me, which I hope to subsequently inspire in the viewer too. We can see the atmosphere change as the seasons change; various paintings displaying dark and moody scenes are captured in cooler and more muted colours. These wintery scenes are contrasted by the vibrant and warm colours, prevalent in the summer months. I have also attempted to capture the familiar North Norfolk winds, which seem to occur all year round, with my dynamic wave paintings and grey, stormy skies. The exhibition also follows my travels to London, Peru and Greece, displaying scenes that are undoubtedly distinctive. The landscapes begin to progress into abstraction, a subsection of my project, concentrating solely on colour and composition. This subsection follows the same rules as my landscape pieces, aiming to evoke emotion within the viewer through more simplified tone and colour.

The processes involved include acrylic painting, gouache and digital painting. The pieces on display include paintings, prints and photographs. Acrylic is my preferred medium of choice as the quick drying qualities allowed me to layer my pieces with energetic brush strokes. I begin with a diluted burnt sienna base, which allows flecks of colour to burst through, dancing across the canvas. This technique compels the viewer's eyes to dart across the piece. I then sketch an outline of my composition in a royal blue which juxtaposes the orange of the base, complementing it. Acrylic can also be applied in a range of different techniques including impasto, where the paint is layered thickly; this can be obtained through use of brushes and palette knives. This technique allowed me to mix paint directly onto the canvas and created texture and depth as the paint appears to project out of the canvas.

Gouache creates a more block colour effect, an almost computerised resemblance. I find the colours are more vibrant, creating an impressionist affectation. It is a water-based paint but with a higher ratio of pigment to binder than watercolour. This medium was effective during the summer months, creating a playful, bright piece. During this project, I often planned paintings compositionally and tested different colour schemes to create a virtual piece of work that I could rework and change; this often helped me when working on large scale pieces and allowed me to see what worked and what didn’t. When layering my abstract pieces, digital planning helped immensely when experimenting with composition, the selection of brushes on Procreate determined which medium would follow.

One of the main subjects of my pieces is light itself. The dramatic sky protruding through the tree’s branches and leaves allows light itself to become the crucial, fundamental subject of the painting. It forces the background to become something that cannot be ignored. When a reference has flat light it changes the composition of the piece, lessening the depth but still remaining interesting for manifold reasons, one being appearing as a bridge into abstraction. My abstract pieces take inspiration from nature too, the focus on negative spaces and the exaggeration of colour allows the painting's subject matter to become unrecognisable.

Landscape is a subject that I delved into a couple of years ago. I was inspired by the vastly differing scenes of Australia and New Zealand during my travels, and how these compare to the English countryside. Over the years I have gathered thousands of photographs so that when I return to my studio, I could relive my experiences through painting.

The collection has a variation in scale which creates a range of representation and thus a variation in viewer perspective. Small scale acts as a window into the understanding, whereas large scale involves the viewer in practice. As well as scale, an artist must consider colour schemes and a sense of consistency. I often use complementary colours to create a sense of harmony versus dissonance.

In completing this project, I aimed to achieve a strong correlation between colour and mood, combining a range of processes. I aimed to allow the viewer to follow my journey and hopefully experience nostalgia whilst relating to it. I have learnt a lot this year creating this project; mistakes have to be made in order to move forward, to learn what I enjoy and to create something beautiful. Over the 12 months I have been frustrated and destroyed paintings to start again, but it has resulted in a collection of which I am truly proud of.