Friday 16th October
News of an exhibition I’d love to see if I didn’t live 500 miles away.
Paintings depicting life in Cornwall's fishing and rural communities more than a century ago have gone on display.
The exhibition brings together 40 works from the acclaimed Bowerman Collection of Newlyn School art, a movement of artists who settled in west Cornwall in the late 19th Century.
The works have returned to Cornwall before embarking on a national tour and will be displayed at the Penlee House Gallery and Museum in Penzance until January.
Curator Alison Bevan said the work "captures the real lives and characters of this remote fishing community".
Bevan said the exhibition also highlighted artists who formed what she described as a second flowering of the colony at the turn of the 20th Century.
"With their more vibrant palette but equal passion for painting from life, this second generation re-energised Newlyn as a vibrant artistic hub, revelling in West Cornwall's sparkling light," she said.
The exhibition runs until 9 January before the collection begins a two-year tour of venues across England.
I’ve had a productive but disjointed week. On Monday I varnished all my paintings both for Buckinghams and Beckstones
This effectively rendering my studio a no go zone. I found it a stressful experience trying to move around an already cramped and untidy space with 9 wet varnished pictures! I just had to keep my fingers crossed that the tiny wren which had somehow got in there and refused to fly out, didn’t crap all over the paintings…
Whilst my studio was out of action I used my time to tackle the Scottish watercolours. After a random thought which occurred to me in the middle of the night I had decided to do the pictures with pen and wash rather than the normal straight watercolours. I set about drawing 8 Scottish scenes around the Oban area with a waterproof pen on the watercolour paper. There is no room for error as the permanent line cannot be erased!
Before tackling the actual watercolour element I spent some time (frustrating time) trying to come up with some original names for the Autumn Woodland paintings. It’s frustrating because it’s so difficult to find new names for Autumn Woodland when I’ve done so many previously. Eventually, after over an hour I had the names and had photographed the paintings and then wrapped them for collection next week.
On Wednesday, I tackled the Scottish watercolours. Painting layers of each painting in succession it took me most of the day. On Thursday I spent the morning mounting them ready to send. The picture at the front of this blog shows the necessary equipment needed to do this seemingly simple process. It shows the pictures signed in white pen which are taped onto the mounts and named and signed in pencil on the back. The backing board which is double- sided taped onto the back of the mounts. The “Nick Potter” art stamp which is stamped in ink on the back of the backboard along with the label and then named in black pen. This then goes into a cello bag. It’s a proces!
I ordered and had delivered some wooden tray frames for my small paintings for OCG. They came with canvases which I now have spare and were a reasonable price. I resisted actually framing the paintings while I consider whether to paint the tray frames or wax them or leave them a natural pine colour.
I don’t always make life easy for myself. I had forgotten to write the locations of the Lakes paintings on the back of the picture. I spent more frustrating time trawling for the images I had used. A couple were obvious but not the other 4. As of writing this blog I still have one I can’t locate (this is just stupidity and I’m ashamed of how often I do it).
I’ll be back in my studio next week. I currently have 2 lights not working so not only is it cluttered, cold, overcrowded and full of wildlife it’s now a little on the dark side as well. I might have to get out my photography studio lights to give me a bit more illumination but 2 lights on tripods with trailing wires might create a few problems. It’s all good fun!