Articles tagged with #artgallery - Artlantic

Blue, Blue, Electric Blue

Shelley Thornton — Tue, 28 May 2024 22:37:59 +0000

It was a lovely experience at my first exhibition at Morvah Schoolhouse Gallery – situated on the beautiful coastal road between St Ives and Land’s End in the far west of Cornwall.

It is a lovely space with fantastic light and stunning views over the fields to the Atlantic. It also has great cream teas.

This joint exhibition explored the synergies and differences in approach of St Ives based ceramacist Julie Harper, and myself.

Both of us are deeply inspired by the ocean on our doorstep and use the colour blue extensively in our work. Whilst not restricted by the colour blue, our work in this show majored on blue hues.

Like me, Julie lives in St Ives, Cornwall and is surrounded by the sea, which provides the inspiration for her work. She aims to capture some of the wonderful seascapes and tones of Cornwall in her hand painted porcelain pictures. She uses porcelain clay as its delicate nature is ideal for her work. Her pictures, bowls, vases and platters are often decorated with cottages, harbours, fishing boats and the sea. Her work reflects her deep regard and love for Cornwall.

My works in the show were also based mainly on St Ives – directed by the magical land and seascapes around me. St Ives is a unique and special place where the light reflects from the waves like no other.

A visitor wrote in the book : “So lovely to see both your work together – it looks fabulous!”

The post Blue, Blue, Electric Blue appeared first on Artlantic.

National Celebration of Acrylics

Shelley Thornton — Tue, 28 May 2024 16:00:24 +0000

I’m delighted that three of my paintings were selected for the annual summer exhibition of the National Acrylic Painters` Association (NAPA). This year’s exhibition was held in Sidmoth Devon. Previous exhibitions have included venues in London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Durham, Cardiff, Chichester, Somerset and St Ives.

Two paintings were from my Harbour Collection – Wharf 3 and Wharf 4. And the third was from my Vessels Collection – Vessels 6.

The Wharf paintings are inspired by the elements to be found in a working harbour. The Vessels works are inspired by boatworks in St Ives Harbour.

The National Acrylic Painters` Association (NAPA) was formed in 1985 and evolved from the concept that acrylic paint is still largely unrecognised in its own right unlike oil and watercolour paints, and should enjoy equal status. Emerging in the twentieth century, it is the newest and still developing medium that is capable of the widest range of approaches in technique and methods.

The purpose of its annual exhibition is to celebrate the diversity of acrylic paint. It’s fabulous to see the very different processes applied by diverse artists dedicated to this versatile medium.

The post National Celebration of Acrylics appeared first on Artlantic.

Zest for Life

Shelley Thornton — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 20:35:56 +0000

I’m pleased to have three artworks featuring in the annual Spring Open exhibition of the St Ives Society of Artists. All three have a citrus theme as is befitting of Spring.

The largest is Summer Turns to High (Revisited) . It drills into the summer quadrant of life. The quote “Circle citronella candles” contained within it is taken from R.E.M’s song “Summer Turns to High”. It directly references the ticking clock of aging, and contrasts the rough with the smooth and darker shadows tinging the summer sun. Although essentially a joyous time, there is a bittersweet element through the citronella candle reference.

Next up is Tangerine 3 from my Vessels Collection – inspired by boatworks in St Ives Harbour – and is the only one still available from my tangerine paintings.

The term Vessel has the obvious nautical meaning and so you may see an orange and yellow boat with its hull resting on the sand, with decorative markings. You may also see a sunset in the Harbour with the glowing coppers, oranges and yellows. But look deeper and you’ll find lines and scratches as though the boat is telling a story of each and every turning tide and trip out to sea. The title Tangerine refers to the colourings and was inspired by the Teleman song of the same name (and of course the citrus fruit!).

And finally, there’s Zest for Life 2 – which was specially created for a project last year entitled “when life gives you lemons“ and is, of course, a lemon. Created with my trademark acrylics, sand and wax it’s very textural.

The show is on at the Mariner’s Gallery, St Ives Society of Artists, Norway Square, St Ives and runs until 7 June.

The post Zest for Life appeared first on Artlantic.

LIFE IS A BE4CH

Shelley Thornton — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 16:03:45 +0000

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.

…..

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.

The post LIFE IS A BE4CH appeared first on Artlantic.

A Forest in St Ives

Shelley Thornton — Mon, 30 May 2022 21:19:55 +0000

I was really pleased to have A Forest selected for the St Ives Society of Artists’ Spring Open which ran during April and May 2022.

This painting is an abstraction of the elements in a forest and is very textural – containing representations of undergrowth and trees. The line, “Running Towards Nothing, Again and Again and Again and Again” , is taken from the song “A Forest”, by The Cure and is used to evoke the poignancy and perhaps hopelessness of the human condition.

The post A Forest in St Ives appeared first on Artlantic.

Penwith Associates Show

Shelley Thornton — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 15:24:13 +0000

I’m delighted to have Sanctuary 1 selected for the Penwith Gallery’s Winter Associates Exhibition. I helped to set up the show and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Sanctuary 1 is from my recent Vessels series inspired by boatworks in St Ives Harbour. The artworks meld the natural and man-made landscapes I encountered on my daily walks at that quiet, strange time in lockdown 2020. They reflect what remains of the fishing industry and the almost eerie sense of stillness and calm that descended upon St Ives. This one is the first entitled Sanctuary and is an abstraction of weathered boats in the Harbour. By the time I painted this, the town had filled up with tourists over the summer and was just starting to empty again as the second wave of Covid-19 began to strike. St Ives was becoming my sanctuary again.

It is acrylics and mixed media on canvas board, mounted and framed in white frame, 60cm x 60cm (image is 40cm x 40cm) – £500

The show runs from 7th November 2020 – 9th January 2021

The post Penwith Associates Show appeared first on Artlantic.