Pebbles, Paint and Possibilities

St. Ives

This rough and rugged place of pebbled beaches, azure blue sky, teal green sea, deadly cliffs, narrow lanes, iron age circles, tropical gardens, open moors, and herds of wild ponies overwhelms my creative senses to the point of near panic and procrastination.

Mevagissey

Ever since I first arrived in Cornwall in 1999, I have been in love with the land, the sea, the history and the people. My husband's people come from this ancient place and still reside in villages of Mevagissey and Fowey, very near the place my husband, Peter, was born in Mt. Charles.

Fowey

Charlestown Quay down the road from Mt. Charles

For the first 8-9 years of our travels to Cornwall, I was a mad woman absorbing the culture, environment, language, and history as quickly as possible ... while feeling an obligation to made art.

With limited time slipping away, I frantically filled sketchbooks with black and white illustrations of people, boats, historic locations and everyday life.  Or felt the rush, excitement AND panic in my chest as I attempt to capture the constantly changing light as the weather allowed.

Gorran Haven 2008

Rock Pool Series 2008

But in 2008, the abstracted, cubist landscapes of St. Ives artist, Peter Lanyon (1918-1964), made me rethink the way I approach space and perspective. This epiphany changed my approach to painting, as well as my abstract handmade paper constructions. But I still felt pressed to MAKE art.

But this year, I have not allowed myself to stress out about some pre-conceived fictional deadline.  Before we left the States, I gave myself permission - to slow down even more. 

To give myself ... my art ... my relationship with Peter ... and my spirit ... 

a chance to breath. 

This year, we returned to St. Ives by train.

St. Ives

St. Ives

Wandering in and out of galleries down to the Tate, it was Lar Cann's (1943 --) current abstract paintings of the rock quarries of Cornwall that gave us both pause. Simple, beautiful, intense, and textured in glorious colors!

What took me so long to embrace similar intense hues in my paintings? Fear of boldness? 

Thus, I am once again drawn to simplification, minimalization, and abstraction ... with the addition of a more passionate color palette ... allowing intuition to be inspired by the microcosmic landscapes embedded within and upon the beach pebbles themselves.  If you think my choice of colors seem too brash, you have never walked along the surf of a Cornish beach in the sunshine. 

Cornwall 2012 - Painting 1

Add a bit of cubist landscape ...  

Cornwall 2012 - Painting 2

Cornwall 2012 - Painting 3

And perhaps a sea creature or two ...

Cornwall 2012 - Painting 4

Work in progress

I spy from my temporary studio window, 

set high above the Mevagissey quay and the English Channel beyond ... 

pebbles, paint and an array of possibilities for our final week abroad.

Mevagissey Feast Week 2011 Begins

Clouds that traipsed across the cliffs all morning lifted and the sun appeared for the opening of Feast Week in Mevagissey with fishing boat races beyond the quay; a fresh catch of sea food displayed on ice; pints of favorite beverages; hot pasties or fish and chips sold from shop front windows; the Fish Parade of children and adults carrying paper fish and sea creatures high on sticks while marching through the village to drums; flower arranging contests at the church; music and dancing to 50's and 60's rock-n-roll on the quay in the afternoon moving on through the decades as the festivities progressed; face painting to please the littlest mermaid - and piskies! What is a feast in Cornwall without Cornish piskies??!!

Mid-Summer's Eve in Cornwall

The sun has returned to the West Country just in time for the longest day of the year!  When we drove through walls of mizzle and rain laden clouds sweeping across the moors past Stonehenge yesterday on our journey from Sussex to Cornwall, we thought the sun may never shine again.

But today as we carefully made our way on foot through the very narrow lanes of Mevagissey, we greatly appreciated the sun's rays warming our backs as we watched the fishing boats returning with their morning's catch. Peter's younger sister Jo and her husband Paul live on School Hill above the village;  while older sister Wendy and her husband Michael who live in West Sussex also own one of the stone cottages in the photo below overlooking Mevagissey's quay.

Foot path to Wendy and Michael's cottage (left)

View from Wendy and Michael's Cottage

This zig-zag series of roof tops cover the boat workshop tucked into the edge of the sea wall - one of my favorite views from the cliff path. From here one can see the light house, Chapel Point and the English Channel beyond the outer walls of Meva's quay. 

Colors of Cornwall

Polstreath Beach near Mevagissey

If you follow the link above for Polstreath Beach, an interactive map will appear of the beach and Mevagissey through Geoeye Getmapping.  If you move the map so that you can see the group of homes  across the street, left of the beach, one of those homes belongs to Peter's sister and brother-in-law, Jo and Paul. What the map doesn't show you is the long, long staircase down ... and up ... to and from the beach - 96 steps from the cliff path if I recall....

View West from Rame Head

Inspired by the colors and textures of flotsom, jetsom and beach pebbles collected from Cornwall, I just finished drying the fourth beater load of 12x16" flax and abaca paper pigmented in the colors of the coastal paths and brightly colored fishing boats.

Inner Harbour at Mevagissey with Fish Market in Distance

If you look closer at the interactive map from the Polstreath link above, you can easily see the Mevagissey inner harbor, fish market and outer quay.

Two batches have been dried and pressed, with the third in the press and the fourth on the line. 

The final beater load will be pigmented with the deep ochres and russets of tumbled tiles and pavers washed ashore along with the black lava carried in the holds of commercial ships as ballast and dumped on the beach at Charlestown.

Charlestown Beach

Peter on Charlestown Beach with Charlestown Harbor in Background

Cornwall Inspirations

Mevagissey, Cornwall

For many summers, Peter and I have returned to his birthplace, Cornwall, England. In the farthest western tip of England, Cornwall is a land of one lane - two way stone hedgerow lanes, open moors, wild ponies, herds of sheep, palm trees, amazing gardens, and two coastlines - the English Channel and the Atlantic Ocean. Only a few miles apart, each coast has it own personality and its own micro-climate. When we visit, we stay with Peter's younger sister and her husband, Jo and Paul, in Mevagissey. Our sister and brother are very generous with their hospitality and we often return to the States in need of a serious workout to reduce our waistlines.

Peter's older sister and her husband, Wendy and Michael, also have a cottage in Mevagissey that has been in his family for hundreds of years, while their main home is closer to London, in Horsham, W. Sussex. Wendy and Michael, and their daughter, Jackie, are wonderful about sharing their favorite places such as Glyndebourne while making sure we arrive and depart at Gatwick Airport and make our train on time. While in Cornwall, Wendy and Michael also loan us a car which allows us to explore many of the pre-Roman hedgerow lanes and ancient moors guided by ordinance survey maps. When we are not backing up nose-to-nose with a Lorry or pulling in our side mirrors to allow another car to pass, we spend much of our time on foot - on Bodmin Moor or in one of many fishing villages near the sea.

Bodmin Moor

Peter carries his Canon 50D and I pack my acrylic paints, watercolor paper and a sketchbook everywhere we travel. As an illustrator, my paintings were often tight and exact. In 2008, began looking at the abstract landscapes of Peter Lanyon at the Tate in St. Ives.  After many small works that looked like Lanyon knock-offs, I finally began painting in two very different styles - very loose and flowing coastlines, and detailed morphs of possible tidal pools. Eight paintings from these two series will be in the “Elements” exhibition at the Main Street Art Gallery in Edwardsville, IL opening Friday July 23 (6-8pm) thru Saturday August 28, 2010. 

Gorran Haven 2008

Rock Pool 5

Currently I am creating a third series inspired by Cornish Coastlines made from my handmade paper. As I make the new handmade paper work, and as the “Elements” show gets a bit closer, I will continue to post new images.

Cornwall Coastline 1

Cornwall Coastline 1 (detail)

            Cornwall Coastline 1 (detail)