‘…and the smooth waves grow sullen in the gloom
and wear their threatening purple; more and more
the plain of waters sways and seems to rise
convexly from its level of the shores;
and low dull thunder rolls along the beach…’
Augusta Davies Webster
Mother Nature is a fickle, tantalising being…teasing us with hints of spring; the burgeoning warmth of the sun’s rays, the first longed for blossoms, the early chorus of birdsong…and then, in response to our temerity in thinking winter was sliding gently past, she sends storms to batter and pummel, to flood, to wash away…
A week’s break in Cornwall was sandwiched between Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis; imagined mornings or afternoons spent sketching by the sea (I don’t mind wrapping up against the cold…but gales and rain…!!) didn’t materialise…instead, interspersed between the rain and hailstorms, along with the odd burst of sunshine, were hasty walks along the coastal path, being mindful not to get too close to the edge, taking photographs and making mental notes of shapes and colours…
Wild winds and seas at Dinas Head were exhilarating, with spectacular waves crashing onto the rocks…but the strength of the wind made filming difficult…what you don’t get from the photo below is the power of the wind and sea, the spray and the noise…at times, just standing was problematical….
The conditions brought to mind one of my favourite paintings, Snowstorm by JMW Turner…
and this led me to other paintings depicting storms… such as Clearing Up – Coast of Sicily by Andreas Achenbach…which depicts the most fantastic light…aren’t those waves fantastic?
…and although this one by Friedrich is a ‘sea of fog’…it has that feel about it….
Wanderer above the Sea of Fog – Caspar David Friedrich
I would love to say I was emulating Friedrich’s enigmatic pose, looking out over ‘the Sea’…
…but in reality, I was just trying to stay upright…whilst taking in the views and colours….
The weather did mean that we spent quite a lot of time in cafes…and galleries…where I came across this fabulous book…’Sea and Shore Cornwall’ by Lisa Woollett
Not only is it full of the most wonderful photographs, it is also packed with fascinating facts, anecdotes and incidentals on, as the subtitle states, the common and the curious…
I never knew there was a system, the Forel-Ule scale, as used by oceanographers, to classify the colour of the sea…
A lover of language and words, there is a section on Cornish words and phrases…ba-wiggle (spider crab), piddifogger (sea anemone) and loor and howl for (moon and sun) along with towerthack (weather-beaten)…
And it wouldn’t be Cornwall without some reference to wrecking and smuggling…
‘Oh please Lord, let us pray for all on the sea; but if there’s got to be a wreck,
please send them to us,’
(18th century prayer ascribed to the Cornish)
A trip to a very wet St. Ives necessitated a visit to the Tate St. Ives…naturally…and a chance to see up close work by Cornish painter Peter Lanyon…
It’s always fabulous to see Barbara Hepworth‘s work…
and a couple of others that caught my eye, although to be honest, there were lots, was Composition II by Sandra Blow...
and Portheras Grey by Paul Feiler…
…both for their colour palette and textures…
My ‘Instagram Artist of the Week’ this week is Lisa McLinden
I was drawn to Lisa’s feed by the ethereal nature of her work…gentle washes of colour, darks merging into lights, hints of features in the landscape, shrouded in mists… And to say I have serious ‘studio envy’ is an understatement…more of which later….
Lisa McLinden Art
An abstract expressionist painter, influenced by land and seascapes, Lisa divides her time between her home province of Ontario and the Newfoundland coast and the differing land/seascape provide the inspiration for her work.
The rich agricultural lands, dense forests and great lakes of Ontario form the basis of Lisa’s landscapes, with their palettes of green, umber and blues…whilst the wild Atlantic Ocean surrounding Newfoundland calls naturally for muted greys, shades of white…
I love the textures that Lisa achieves in her work, so was interested to hear about her process… Oil paints, graphite and oil pastels are her mediums of choice, although if the work calls for an atmospheric quality, she may paint base layers in acrylic paint, finishing the top layers in oils… Lisa finds this ‘provides the flexibility of painting washes in a quick dry medium for the underpainting, while giving the rich, saturated colour of oils on top layers’…with the added bonus that it helps speed up the drying time of the oils quite considerably…
Lisa’s all time favourite artist, and one of mine too as evidenced earlier in this post, is JMW Turner; she finds his seascapes in particular move her on ‘a visceral level’, finding it hard to express and quantify her feelings when viewing his work. Lisa also enjoys photography and names the late Vivian Maier amongst her favourites in this genre…particularly her use of unconventional subject matter…
Multi-talented Lisa is no slouch when it comes to photography either…I love her muted close-up photographs, highlighting the beauty in the small, often overlooked details…
I am always interested in finding out what artists listen to when working, and for Lisa, music is an integral part of her life; ‘Music is an elixir for the soul and I’m so grateful for the joy it brings into my life.’ She names Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Derek & the Dominoes and John Fogerty as being at the top of her studio playlist…
I mentioned earlier that I had ‘studio envy’ when I saw images of Lisa’s studio; it’s just the sort of space I aspire to…light, bright, airy, white with the natural colours of nature…it looks such a calm space…
Lisa’s studio is on the upper floor of her home, a creative space to paint, teach and share special moments…although Lisa is the first to admit that her studio space wasn’t always so wonderful – her very first studio was a walk-in closet! She encourages people to try and create a space to work in, however small, and stands by the sentiment, ‘It’s not where you create but what you create that truly matters’…something I need to remember before the ‘studio envy’ gets too much…
Do go and take a look at Lisa’s Instagram feed; it’s full of the most fantastic images, not just of her work, studio or Luna the dog…but also of things that I find so appealing…such as torn canvases…
…or paper edges, jars of brushes, baskets of paints…go, go take a peek… By the way, she also has a website…where you can see more of Lisa’s wonderful work and imagery…
As ever, I would like to thank Lisa for taking the time to respond to my questions; it never fails to amaze me how generous fellow creatives are when approached by me, a random blogger, so a big shout out to all my ‘Instagram Artists of the Week’…thank you!!
We end where we began…water, water everywhere…
‘The wind begun to rock the grass
With threatening tunes and low, –
He flung a menace at the earth,
A menace at the sky.
The leaves unhooked themselves from trees
And started all abroad;
The dust did scoop itself like hands
And throw away the road.
The wagons quickened on the streets,
The thunder hurried slow;
The lightning showed a yellow beak,
And then a livid claw.
The birds put up the bars to nests,
The cattle fled to barns;
There came one drop of giant rain,
And then, as if the hands
That held the dams had parted hold,
The waters wrecked the sky,
But overlooked my father’s house,
Just quartering a tree.’
A Thunderstorm – Emily Dickinson
(P.S. for the life of me I don’t know why the whole of this poem isn’t showing as centred – it is on my admin page….??)
Whatever you’re doing this weekend, I hope you stay warm and dry…
Take care,
C
(If you would like to see work-in-progress please follow me on social media, or for more of my ramblings, offers plus maybe the odd, hitherto unseen video or two, please sign up, via the link opposite, to receive my monthly(ish) newsletter…)
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‘Restless Edge 1’ – acrylic on canvas
