An Exhibition of paintings by Rosemary Claydon
with Pottery by Kate Reynolds and Robert Wickens
pinmill rosemary claydon
A RETIREMENT.
“Picking up a paintbrush for the first time in forty years was quite daunting. I had no idea what I might achieve but I wanted to find out. Artists colours replaced the dried fragments in my childhood paintbox and I acquired a few new paintbrushes. These later became redundant when I discovered the joys of using a mop-head brush. After spending many hours attempting to paint vast skies, water and boats all along the coast and at Pinmill, I realised that I needed to acquire some real painting skills. Several two-day painting courses at Snape and Flatford followed.
A visit to the Royal Watercolour Society‘s annual exhibition at The Mall Galleries changed everything. I was stunned by the vibrant, contemporary paintings using various combinations of pastel, ink, gouache and watercolour. To learn more I contacted several of the artists to find out whether they offered any short courses. In this way I travelled to the North Yorkshire Dales, Cornwall and Cumbria. Soon I felt free from all the conventions that previously I had thought were sacrosanct.
Whilst driving in Cumbria one beautiful evening, the sunlight glinting on the tops of the grey stone walls fleetingly reminded me of the effect achieved by tearing across a piece of newsprint. The tops of the glistening walls resembled the newly created white edge of torn newsprint. The next day I set to with newspaper and paints to create a Cumbrian Landscape. Nowadays, I use various combinations of watercolours, gouache and pastels with newsprint. The shapes and patterns of the letters and numbers are often the inspiration for the painting. Otherwise, a painting might be based on the meaning of the text. The newsprint is never randomly selected.”
Rosemary Claydon.
the butt & oyster - pin mill Rosemary claydon
Wading Birds, River Orwell Rosemary Claydon
rosemary claydon