I had a fabulous time at my most recent solo exhibition at the large Crypt Gallery in my hometown of St Ives in August. There must be almost 50m of wall space to cover.
Be4ches featured available artworks spanning almost 20 years of my bold and vibrant abstractions of 4 beaches of St Ives – namely Porthminster, Harbour, Porthgwidden and Porthmeor. St Ives is a unique and special place where the light reflects from the waves like no other. Many of my collections draw from this magical landscape. Since 2004, I have developed collections in response to the stunning beaches of St Ives, Cornwall, and their surroundings.
Inspired by early morning sea swims before the beaches throng with visitors and ocean craft, by watching my daughters surf, train in surf life saving, and play in the turquoise waters, and watching the glorious sunsets with friends, I have captured life long memories. This exhibition was a retrospective homage to these beaches. Whilst the majority of the artworks available were from the last few years, some early works were also on view.
Suffice to say I had a great week – despite the summer deciding to re-appear for the first time since June meaning, ironically, that everyone wanted to be on the be4ches instead of in an art gallery!
That said, I still had plenty of visitors, had some great conversations and made lots of sales. Many of the sales of original artworks were of older artworks that don’t feature on my website. These works have not been shown for years and were in storage. I dusted them off and framed some. It’s really pleasing that so many of them have gone to new homes. I shall do that again. I even inspired an amateur artist to try abstraction!
“Having returned home from 10 days in Cornwall, where in St Ives I enjoyed chatting to a couple of local artists, I was inspired by an abstract artist who is defined by bold colour – you know who you are – to try something abstract. “
Many of the available recent artworks are available online. Some smaller works haven’t been added nor have older works. If you’ve seen something you’re interested in and can’t see it available, please do contact me.
Read below the images if you’d like to know more about the beaches, and how and what artwork they have inspired.
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The exhibition started with Porthgwidden Beach – the smallest of the main St Ives beaches. Porthgwidden is well sheltered and sits at the edge of the iconic artists’ colony of St Ives. This small picturesque bay is the quietest of them all. A quaint little suntrap nestled between the ‘Island’ and the harbour, it has rocky outcrops on either side of the beach. As with all the other beaches of St Ives, it has golden sands and turquoise waters. I often goes to Porthgwidden, especially out of season, for a solitary coffee and some quiet contemplation. I don’t have a Collection dedicated to Porthgwidden. Instead, its inspiration is evident within other collections, eg the February Series. Included in this exhibition were some artworks loosely based on Porthgwidden dating from 2006, threading through to the brand new ‘Sea Shacks’ works.
Next it moved to Porthminster Beach – nestled beneath the steep slopes of Porthminster Point and having uninterrupted views to St Ives Harbour on one side and Godrevy Lighthouse, across the Bay, on the other. Like Porthgwidden, it has golden sands and azure waters. Porthminster is my go to beach for an early morning sea swim before it throngs with visitors and ocean craft. The artworks abstract elements from the beach – from sea, sand and sky to the surrounding rocks and white buildings with blue beach signs and flags. Porthminster Beach was one of the first things I fell in love with about St Ives and this Collection continues to grow. Most of the Porthminster Collection artworks on view in this exhibition were very recent additions.
Then it moved to Porthmeor Beach – a surf beach with the iconic ‘Island’ on one side and Man’s Head on the other. It has spectacular sunsets. Porthmeor is also home to the renowned art gallery, Tate St Ives. It is also only a few metres away from my studio on Porthmeor Road. I have spent many hours on Porthmeor Beach watching my daughters surf, train in surf life saving, and play on its golden sands and in its turquoise waters – as well as watching the glorious sunsets with friends. Life long memories have been made on this beach and my Porthmeor Collection continues to grow. A few of the Porthmeor Studies (a set of vistas taken from various angles on and around the beach produced in 2014) were available, as were some early sunset paintings. Some additions to the Collection were also available including the latest sunset – ‘Porthmeor Gold’.
And finally, Harbour Beach. It is often forgotten that St Ives Harbour has a beautiful – if busy – beach too. St Ives Harbour beach shares the same beautiful, golden sand and azure waters as the town’s other main beaches. The fact that it is still a working harbour only adds to the beach’s charm. To this day, St Ives Harbour has a fishing fleet together with leisure moorings, passenger trip boats and hire craft. The heady mix of granite, metals and wood, aged by the sea, remain a constant inspiration that I return to again and again in my Harbour Collection. Early artworks of mine loosely based on the Harbour included one featured in this exhibition from 2004 – almost 20 years ago! Other works on view were recent additions including the brand new ‘Harbouring Dreams’ set of works.
