I have early memories of my mother taking my siblings and me, dressed warmly and with pyjamas underneath, down to the seafront when it was a high tide in Weston-super-Mare where we grew up. There we would watch the waves crashing over the wall, sometimes running away from the sea spray as it erupted like lava towards us.
At Art College in 1989 I had a revelation about the way I could express myself and respond to the thrill of nature when a fellow art student and I took ourselves down to Exmouth beach during the terrible storms and made paintings of the sea. They were encrusted with sand and the wind was so strong I could only see through a small slit in my scarf which was wrapped tightly around my head. There were some women in the beach cafe opposite looking on in bewilderment. It was a turning point in my work. The speed at which I had to work and the intuitive and impulsive mark making I made have remained with me and are a central part of all the art I create.
Like so many of us, the sea pulls me towards it almost like the gravity of the moon cycles pulling the waves by magnetic force in and out. There is nothing more energising and cleansing than time spent by the sea.
In 1995 we (my art student husband and I) moved to Oxford - one of the most landlocked counties in the uk. I had no idea I would miss the sea so much. I hadn’t appreciated how important it was that my life so far had included an almost daily opportunity to experience the joy and freedom of living near the coast.
Being an optimist, I made it my aim to find ways to be inspired by the inland landscape and me and my creative and resourceful husband and family eventually fulfilled a dream of building somewhere to live in Oxfordshire with spaciousness and open skies which help me daily to find joy and clarity.
However, I cannot cope for too long without responding to the call to drive towards the horizon. Throughout my career as an artist I have revisited the theme of the sea. It is where my true voice emerged and I found a way to express myself through mark making with all kinds of materials - paint, charcoal, sand, pastels and pigment. As a child I had a strong urge to draw - I didn’t know being an artist was a thing but I knew I had to draw what I could see and to express my inner voice. I used pencils and pens and paint and remember having a set of pastels which I loved. I’ve kept coming back to pastels over the years.
2019 was the year that my use of pastels has not only been revived but has unlocked so much more potential to express myself through colour and mark making combined. In February 2019 I visited St.Ives in Cornwall with the intention of making work whilst I was there. It couldn’t have been a better week. The spring tides were high and dramatic and the Cornish light at it’s best. The combination of being able to record colour, light, movement and energy through mark making with my favourite Unison pastels was so liberating! I filled sketchbooks with energetic drawings. The memories of being there are so much better embedded in my mind, and body if I have made drawings on site. The gestures made, the colours combined and the emotions experienced are retained in my body through the act of drawing.
I get such a thrill from being in the natural world and especially when it is dramatic and overwhelming. It’s that feeling of being truly alive! I believe there is an innate connection between humans and nature and the work I do comes from a response to this from deep within me.
When I returned from Cornwall, I was able to work from the drawings I’d made on the beach and a series of sea pastel drawings came pouring from me. Seascapes of the Soul - Unleashed was one of this series. I loved making the deep blended background first and creating the depth and drama I had seen from the beach. Then I unleashed a variety of marks and colours to try and recreate the sense of wave after wave hitting the sand and the multiple directions of spray and swirls and puddles and energy.
This year the advert for entries to the Pastel Society Annual Exhibition pulled me towards it and I decided I had nothing to lose. Imagine the thrill of receiving an email saying your work has been accepted to the next stage of judging! On January 4th my husband and I got up very early to get my picture to the Mall. It was my older son’s birthday so we didn’t want to take up too much of the day as he was staying with us! We drove from Oxfordshire and then walked through Hyde and James Park taking it in turns to carry it under our arms. We dropped it off and quickly walked back on what was a beautiful sunny, clear morning with central London looking its best. I was over the moon to receive an email later that week to say my work had been selected for the show!
On the evening of 6th February, the opening at The Mall galleries was to take place. I booked my train as early as I could get away from work hoping to be there by 6pm when the show would be opened officially by Paul Martin. I arrived at the station to discover my train had been cancelled! During that frustrating 45 minutes of waiting I received a phone call from Alistair Redgrift from The Mall Galleries to tell me I had won a prize and would I be at the show by 6pm?! I knew I wouldn’t make it by 6 and there was nothing I could do to make my journey faster at the mercy of public transport! I took as many short cuts as I could and made it through the gallery doors at 6.15! Prizes were being awarded, claps given, photographs taken. Had I missed my moment? No! 3 prizes later, my name was called and I made my way through the throng of visiting and supporting public to receive a handshake and a beautiful box of Unison Pastels! A quick photograph with Paul Martin and a beaming smile! Next thing I knew a kind gentleman was buying me a glass of wine and a photographer was asking me to find my work. Soon after, one of my sons and his girlfriend arrived as did one of my very dear friends. We wandered around enjoying the show and all the while I held my new box of pastels close to me! There was such a variety of interesting and beautiful work with some incredible skills demonstrated. It was wonderful to meet one or two of the other artists in the show including Susie Prangnell who won first prize in the catalogue award. Her work is beautiful.
Since then I have been overwhelmed by the response to my work and the award from friends, family and complete strangers! Seeing my drawing being used in the publicity and on social media by The Mall Galleries and the Pastel Society has also been an unexpected thrill and I’m really looking forward doing an interview with Unison Colour for their blog! It’s been an amazing week! Thank you so much to The Pastel Society, Mall Galleries and to Unison Colour for a brilliant prize and one I can’t wait to start using! Thank you also to the brilliant Isis Creative Framing for presenting my work so beautifully.
I can feel the energy rising for more work to be unleashed!