It’s back to the Arts Centre for me, as having just finished my run there with my solo exhibition Stephen Martyn at 21, I am now participating in a mixed exhibition showcasing the work of the West Norfolk Artists Association. It’s a good show too, with around 130 works by the members filling three of the galleries at King’s Lynn Arts Centre.In a Different Light – King’s Lynn 3. After the Rain. Watercolour 29ins x 21 ins.
My own work in this show can be seen here. It’s a large watercolour of the view of King’s Lynn from a bridge over the River Ouse. In a Different Light 3 is one of a series of three paintings of the same composition but with different light and weather conditions. These three large works formed the centre piece of my recent solo show.
Do try and get along to the Arts Centre to see the current WNAA exhibition. You will see some great work by some of the areas’s leading artists, in a huge variety of media and styles. Paintings, prints, photographs, tapestry, sculpture, and much more. Open every day 10am – 5pm until Saturday 26th July, although note that the galleries will be closed on Sunday 13th, and open from 2 – 6pm only on Sunday 20th. You can even have a cup of tea or coffee and a piece of cake in the pop-up cafe! See you there.
Well, my exhibition has had its two week run and it seems to have been a success. There were plenty of visitors who made some good comments about my work. And yes, a few paintings were sold too!
Something that surprised me was the amount of interest that my early paintings stirred. In particular, this work from around 1995 entitled The Wildfowler was so popular that I had to start making prints of it. If you would like one, just contact me. They are £25 unframed or £45 framed, but unless you can collect the framed version from the studio here in Dersingham it would be better to order the unframed one, which is much easier to mail. Postage within the UK costs £3.
Another early work, which I did at the same sort of time as The Wildfowler is this view of Appleton Water Tower, near Sandringham. At this early point in my career I had already developed a love of simple subjects with a very limited palette of colours. Both these works are painted using Cobalt Blue, Raw Sienna and Burnt Sienna. The Wildfowler. Watercolour c. 1995. 15ins x 11ins.Mist at Appleton. Watercolour c.1995. 15ins x 11ins.
Well, here I am in the Shakespeare Barn, king’s Lynn Arts Centre. surrounded by eighty-two of my paintings, and there are still just a few left at home! This is the start of my celebratory exhibition, Stephen Martyn at 21, which opened on Friday evening and runs now until Saturday 21st June.I promised a glimpse of some of my oil paintings in the last post, so here they are. Muddy Farmyard Norfolk. Oil on board 16″ x 12″.Farm in Upper Eskdale, Cumbria. Oil on board 16″ x 12″Rain clouds over the Marsh – Burnham Overy. Oil on board 16″ x 12″
Already we’ve had quite a crowd of visitors. The Private view was a great evening, buzzy, with warm summer sunshine and some excellent jazz music from my friend Mike Smith and his trio. Lots of familiar faces but plenty of new ones too and yes, paintings were sold. The first full day, Saturday was also busy with a constant stream of visitors doing the rounds of the four galleries here. I’ll feature the other exhibitions in a future post, but they are all very varied and all well worth a visit.
Today Sunday, it’s quieter, perhaps because the weather is so good that people are out in their gardens or on the coast, but nonetheless we have had people in and there have been some nice comments.
Over the run of the exhibition I will endeavour to post on this blog most days, and to feature two or three pictures from the exhibition in each post. Do try and get along to see them for yourself! Margaret and I will be here most of the time, from around 10.15am until close at 5pm. The galleries are in the courtyard behind the Guildhall in King St. King’s Lynn, and you’ll spot my banners at the entrance to the complex. There’s lots of information about the Arts Centre on its website kingslynnarts.co.uk including maps and directions.
This year I am celebrating twenty-one years since I took my first tottering steps on the road to becoming a professional artist. Back in 1993 I chanced upon a programme on Channel 4, presented by Alwyn Crawshaw, who was already well known as a TV artist. As the weekly programmes rolled by I became more and more fascinated with what a bit of paint, paper and a couple of brushes could do. And so, I had to have a go!
I duly got some materials and set about trying to emulate the great man. But I soon found out that I couldn’t draw, couldn’t handle the paint, in short I couldn’t do anything with watercolour. Luckily, I found an adult education class, tutored by an encouraging and skilled teacher, Mike Tuddenham. Little by little, Mike gave me the skills I needed to make at least a reasonable stab at a painting. Several years of practice later, I found myself standing up at an easel with twenty students watching me. The wheel had turned full circle.
To celebrate my twenty-first anniversary, I am having a solo exhibition of my work, old and new. Entitled ‘Stephen Martyn at 21’ it will be held in the largest gallery at King’s Lynn Arts Centre, the Shakespeare Barn. A lovely venue with plenty of room on the walls. I’ve got over fifty framed works already and am working hard on new pieces, so I’ll need plenty of space.
You can see the poster for the exhibition here, and I’ll send out formal invitations soon. The dates are Saturday 7th – Saturday 21st June, and there will be a Private View on the evening of Friday 6th. I hope you can make it along to the show at some time, it would be good to have a few visitors after all the work!
A new exhibition by the West Norfolk Artists Association opened today in the Red Barn gallery, King’s Lynn Arts Centre. The theme for the exhibition was works inspired by a piece of poetry or prose, and what a popular theme that tuned out to be. Nearly forty artist members submitted nearly seventy works.
The exhibition continues all week, until Saturday 29th March, although unfortunately not on Sunday. Otherwise it is open every day 11am – 4pm.
Where the Wave Draws Breath. Watercolour 50 x 32 cms.My own entry for the exhibition is this watercolour which I entitled Where the Wave Draws Breath. A poem by Algernon Swinburne was my inspiration, being a verse featured on an information board in the dunes adjoining Holkham beach. The painting itself is a little unusal as it had been on my pile of “the ones that didn’t quite make it” for nearly ten years. I unearthed it, completely reworked the sky, the sea (there was none) and the beach, and was quite pleased with the end result. Never throw anything away – it may take years for a work to finally be complete!
The verse that inspired the work is:
A land that is thirstier than ruin;
A sea that is hungrier than death;
Heaped hills that a tree never grew in;
Wide sands where the wave draws breath.
If you look back to my last post you’ll see that I recently ran an ink workshop at West Norfolk Arts Centre, Castle Rising. One of the participants on the course, Fay, very kindly sent me some photos of my demonstrations during the weekend, some of which you can see here.
I always appreciate it when people take photos or even video of my demonstrations, because I can’t, being at the coal face with brush in hand!Here you can see the inkwork before any colour goes on. I did this with a Faber-Castell Pitt pen, with a medium nib. The size of my paper is approximately 40 x 30 cms. I’m now applying the Rowney FW coloured inks, using plenty of water. You could do the same with traditional watercolour, but the inks give more vibrant colour. Nearly done, just a few more clouds. That’s a 3/4 inch flat brush that I’m using. Ta-da! A mount or mat round the work always helps.
From time to time I’ve shown paintings here that use ink in addition to or as a substitute for watercolour. Last weekend I ran a workshop at West Norfolk Arts Centre, Castle Rising which was devoted to these techniques, which can just add another dimension to your work. I had a good time with a group of nice people, and I got paid too – what more can an art tutor want!Cley Mill. Pen and wash using Rowney FW acrylic inks. Approximately 40 x 30 cms.
Burnham Overy Staithe. Pen and wash using Rowney FW acrylic inks. 40 x 30 cms.
Part of the weekend was spent looking at traditional pen and wash, but with the added twist of using acrylic inks rather than watercolour. The inks were kindly sponsored by Daler-Rowney and you can see them in the two paintings here, which I did as demonstrations. The inks are Rowney FW acrylic inks and they are available in a wide range of colours. They have a very high tinting strength and are waterproof when dry, so that you can paint over the top without disturbing the initial wash. The inks look very garish when straight from the bottle, but well watered down and carefully mixed the results can be more subtle. Rowney supplied a boxed set of six inks, called the Primary Colours set, which consisted of Cyan, Magenta and Yellow, which are the colours typically used in inkjet printers, plus three additional colours of Scarlet, Emerald Green and Sepia. It was quite a challenge to generate traditional watercolour hues from these but it was fun and good colour mixing practice. The underlying drawing in both paintings was done with a Faber Castell Pitt artist’s pen, containing black waterproof ink.
By the way, spot the flying boat in the painting of Burnham Overy Staithe. A quick “how to draw a boat” sketch that I did while working on the main painting!
Over the weekend we also explored using Indian ink from a bottle and water soluble pens, so there was quite a variety of techniques. My thanks to all the course participants for being so pleasant and fun to work with, to Daler-Rowney for supplying the materials, and to Richard and Ros Cartwright of the Art Centre who were as welcoming as ever. They do a great lunch too!
I will be back at West Norfolk Arts Centre in August for an outdoor sketching weekend, so why not join me working in pen and wash and other sketching media in the picturesque village of Castle Rising, Norfolk. You can find full details, including how to book, on the Arts Centre website westnorfolkarts.co.uk
Wishing everyone a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful, prosperous and healthy New Year. The painting shown here is one of my Christmas Candle series, which was last featured on my Christmas card quite a few years ago. So, I thought that it was time for a return visit, to convey my good wishes to you all.
I’ll be back with more from my artist’s blog in the New Year, with new sketches, paintings and tuition articles. Meanwhile, Happy Painting to all artists wherever they are!
I’m still busy with preparations for the Dersingham Art Trail weekend which is from Friday 29th November through until Sunday 1st December. Five studios will be open, including my own of course, so you can wander round lots of different artists. Two other painters are taking part, Marty Griffin and Mike Smith, plus photographer Jo Halpin Jones and potter June Mullarkey. Do try to visit if you get the chance! You can find out about all the Art Trail artists at DersinghamArtTrail.org by the way.
Meanwhile, at the coal-face of watercolour, here is another “atmospheric” painting that I will be showing. I love to use a really limited palette of colours and this work, Long Shadows in Misty Fields, uses just two, blue and orange. These are strong complementary colours so work quite powerfully in combination. I photographed these trees on a muddy farm lane near Ringstead Downs, Hunstanton and knew that one day they would make a painting. And here it is.Long Shadows in Misty Fields. Watercolour 14ins x 10ins
The time has rushed by and this weekend will be the final one of the 2013 Norfolk Open Studios event. If you haven’t managed to make it along to my studio yet, Margaret and I would be very pleased to see you.
For those who know our village, take Station Road at the Dersingham traffic lights and follow it almost as far as you can go, about half a mile. When you see the old railway station on your left, now a builders yard, you will also see our Open Studio sign on your right! The address is 2 Alexandra close, Dersingham, King’s Lynn, PE31 6YU.Windswept Tree 2. Watercolour and Indian Ink. 8ins x 10ins.
My small ink and watercolour paintings seem as popular as ever, which is great because I really enjoy making them. Here’s one of the latest, which is in a series called Windswept Trees. Very appropriate at the moment as a chilly breeze never seems far away, but hopefully the weather will warm up, after all it is June now!
Speaking of warmer weather, I will be blogging from California for the next few posts, as we explore the landscape of San Francisco, Yosemite and other nearby national parks, so keep an eye out for a few sketches of what is supposed to be one of the most spectacular landscapes in the USA.
