All posts by Stephen Martyn

Big Skies

The West Norfolk Artists Association summer exhibition is running now, in the splendid venue of St Nicholas Chapel, St Ann’s Street, King’s Lynn. This year I have three watercolours on show there, one a beach scene and two very much ‘big sky’ paintings. It’s been a while since I produced any new paintings in this style and I hope you enjoy them – the exhibition continues over the Bank Holiday weekend, closing at 4pm on Monday 29th August. Admission to the historic Chapel is free and it is open each day from 10am until 4pm.

Watching the Tide, Heacham. Watercolour 53 x 43cms.
Clouds Swirling Over Burnham Overy Staithe. Watercolour 56 x 46cms.
Rain Coming! the Wash from Snettisham. Watercolour 56 x 46cms.

Autumn Winds

The West Norfolk Artists Association’s autumn exhibition has just started it two week run at the Fermoy Gallery, King’s Lynn. For those unfamiliar with the venue, it is in the courtyard behind the Guildhall in King Street, just a short way along from Tuesday Market Place. Go through the archway and down the courtyard, passing the vaccination centre (unless you need to pop in for a jab!) and you will see the gallery on your right.

I have two small works on display this year, with the titles of Autumn Winds 1 and Autumn Winds 2. Rather appropriate given the recent weather! The paintings are in a combination of watercolour and Indian ink, which I hope makes them quite striking.

The exhibition runs until Saturday 11th December and is open every day from 10.00am until 4.00pm. Margaret and I will be “on duty” this afternoon (Sunday 28th November) and next Sunday (5th December), so do pop in if you have a chance. There are over 80 works on show and the exhibition is really well worth a look.

Autumn Winds 2 – 8ins x 6ins – Watercolour and Indian Ink
Autumn Winds 1 – 8ins x 6ins – Watercolour and Indian ink

Rainy Day Paintings

By way of something different, I decided to do a series of urban scenes, with a ‘rainy day’ theme. This isn’t a new idea for me, I did a rainy evening in Lisbon painting a while ago which swiftly sold, but this is the first time I’ve painted scenes of King’s Lynn in this way.

I still feel that I’m finding my way with this subject but nonetheless I was reasonably pleased with my efforts. They also met with approval from the Selectors of the West Norfolk Artists Association exhibition which is currently running in St Nicholas Chapel, King’s Lynn. All three paintings were selected and you can see them along with some 200 other fine artworks until 1.00pm on Tuesday 3rd September 2019. The exhibition is open every day from 10.30am – 4.30pm, except on the last day when it closes early to allow for the take-down during the afternoon.

King's Lynn Custom house rainy day painting
Rainy Day, King’s Lynn. Custom House. Watercolour 14ins x 14ins.

St Nicholas Chapel Kings Lynn rainy day painting
Rainy Day, King’s Lynn. St Nicholas Chapel. Watercolour 14ins x 10ins.

King Street Kings Lynn rainy day painting
Rainy Day, King’s Lynn. King Street. Watercolour 14ins x 10ins.

Art Trail and New Paintings

The Dersingham Art Trail will be opening this weekend, as part of the annual Dersingham Open Gardens event. Around fourteen artists will be taking part, including myself, of course! The Open Gardens event is a fund-raiser for the new Village Centre and for St Nicholas Church, and usually raises a substantial amount each year. Tickets costs £5 on the day from the Village Centre, 83 Manor Road, Dersingham, PE31 6LN, or you can save a £1 by buying in advance from Dersingham Post Office.

Most of the artists taking part are opening their gardens too, so there’s plenty to see. Your ticket will get you a programme and a map with all the details.

Here at Alexandra Close, Margaret has been busy in the garden and it’s looking good, with a riot of colour. Meanwhile, I have got some new paintings to show, plus prints and greetings cards. Do come and have a look and a chat!

11.00am – 5.00pm Sunday and Monday 26th – 27th May 2019.

Sunset at Thornham Harbour
Sunset at Thornham, in a bygone era. Watercolour 22ins x 15ins.

Early Evening, Thornham Harbour
Early Evening, Thornham Harbour. Watercolour 22ins x 15ins.

Paint a Lincolnshire Church

My artist friend Jane Ford emailed me recently, about an Art Competition to paint a view of a Lincolnshire church. There are some nice prizes to be won and your work can be in any medium. Perhaps the best thing is that all accepted entries will be hung in the exhibition of Competition work, so your fame is guaranteed! This is an annual competition and had proved very popular

There are links below to the competition details and to the entry form. These links open PDF files. Why not have a go, I may well do so myself and will post my efforts here in due course. By the way, you can also find the entry form and more information on the Lincolnshire Churches Trust website.

Link to Lincolnshire Churches Competition poster

Link to Competition Entry Form

Working on Winter Trees

I’ve been busy with various projects here in the studio, so I haven’t had much time to just make paintings for me. However, a couple of winter tree scenes have fallen off my brush in the past few weeks and you can see them here.

Shadows in the Lane
Shadows in the Lane. Watercolour 15ins x 11ins. on Arches 140lb rough paper.

Both watercolours feature a very limited palette of colours. Shadows in the Lane uses Prussian Blue, contrasted with an orange mixed from Burnt Sienna and Lemon Yellow. Blue and Orange are two of my favourite complementary colours.

Sandringham Winter Trees is French Ultramarine Blue based, with touches of Burnt Sienna, Alizarin Crimson and Quinacridone Gold.

Sandringham Winter Trees
Sandringham Winter Trees. Watercolour 15ins x 11ins on Arches 140lb rough paper.

These are simple compositions, but they still need careful thinking about colour, tone and brushwork. Feel free to have a go at something similar yourself!

End of another year of Art

Yes, it’s the 31st December, so this will definitely be my last post of 2018! The Dersingham Art Trail went well and I sold a painting – not one of my new works but one that I painted a couple of years ago which, unusually for me, is a still life. Well, I suppose it’s a still life as it does show a bit of action in the kitchen!

Watercolour painting of cooking on a stove
Cooking on Gas! Watercolour, 8ins square

Other good things from the Art Trail weekend were an order for several prints of my work, and a commission for a painting of . . . ah well I can’t tell you yet, as it’s a surprise gift. I will show you the finished work when it’s been delivered, but I’ve been working on it in the studio today and it’s coming together now. Another session or two and it will be ready for framing, I hope!

Finally, to artists and art lovers everywhere, a very Happy New Year and may 2019 bring you everything you wish for.

New Works for the Art Trail

As you may have noticed, there haven’t been many new Blog posts lately. That’s because, apart from a bit of teaching, art has had to take a back seat for the past several months due to my involvement with the new Dersingham Village Centre, or village hall. The Centre is open now and I’m sure there will be art exhibitions there at some point in the future, but there’s still a lot of work to do, as with any new building.

Painting of High Force Teesdale
High Force waterfall, Teesdale. Watercolour 15ins x 11ins.

However, the end of the year is always Art Trail time, with the Dersingham Art Trail members opening their studios to welcome visitors. This year’s event was last weekend and in the couple of weeks or so before it I managed to squeeze in some time in the studio to make a few new watercolour paintings to show. You can see them here, a couple of scenes from favourite locations in the North of England and one much closer to home, the Norfolk village of Great Massingham. The three paintings shown here are all for sale, so do get in touch if you’re interested. Or just enjoy looking at them!

painting of snow at Great Massingham
Snow at Great Massingham. Watercolour 15ins x 11ins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Painting of river Esk, Cumbria
Rushing Waters, Eskdale, Cumbria

My watercolour students are doing well

Amanda and Tracey are both watercolour students that I see on a one-to-one basic and they are both working hard and doing well!

When they feel ready, I will post some examples of their work but in the meantime here are a couple of demonstration pieces that I’ve done for them. Amanda has been tackling the sunset at Burnham Overy Staithe and is now working on quite a challenging drawing of some more boats, this time at Thornham. Meanwhile, Tracey is also “at Thornham” working on this scene of the Coal Barn.

sunset painting of burnham overy
Sunset, Burnham Overy Staithe. Watercolour 15ins x 11ins.

painting of thornham coal barn
Thornham Coal Barn and Boat. Watercolour 15ins x 11ins.

These subjects may seem simple, but they both require accurate drawing and confident handling of the paint. With practice, these skills can be learnt and are certainly not something that “you can either do or you can’t”. I’m sure that before long both Amanda and Tracey will be painting fluidly and confidently.

If you think that I might be able to help you develop your painting and drawing skills then do get in touch via my Contact page.

Thornham Harbour and Pen-y-Ghent

Yes, they don’t really go together, being at opposite ends of the country, but yet, in painting, terms, there are similarities. As I’ve written before, one of the themes that constantly recurs in my paintings is that of big skies and wide open spaces. Here you see two recent works that both embody that theme.

Thornham Harbour Norfolk at high tide sunset
Last Light at Thornham Harbour. Watercolour 15ins x 22ins.

Thornham Harbour is just a few miles from my studio and I often paint views of it. Here I decided to focus on the incredible high tides that come into the harbour from time to time, often in the evening. The water in the creek just keeps on rising, flowing silently over the road until the famous Coal Barn is surrounded, like a stony island in shimmering sea.

Pen-y_ghent view from Pennine Way
Pen-y-Ghent from the Pennine Way. Watercolour 15ins x 22ins.

Further north, the Yorkshire peak of Pen-y-Ghent also stands like an island in a sea or greens and browns. It’s quite a few years now since I walked the Pennine Way, but I still like to revisit those scenes in paint. This view is taken from one of my photos that I took while walking the Way, between Horton-in-Ribbledale and Hawes.