We're back, tired and windswept from a week camping in North Yorkshire. We camped overlooking Robin Hood's Bay on a windy site with magnificent views of the sea and valley. It was such a pleasure to sit and watch the landscape and the small changes that occur across the hours and days. Fields changed from verdant green to mellow mustard, white mists rolled up the valley, kissed us coldly and moved on; a combine harvester turned a golden field into one spotted with huge hay bales. The week was such an outdoors, outward experience for someone who spends a lot of time indoors!
I wanted to visit Staithes, inspired by reading Attic 24. It's a picturesque outpost on the Yorkshire coast, with houses huddled around a small harbour. The houses bear the brunt of the scalding sea breeze, paint peels to be re-coated in lovely red, turquoise and blue. It's a place out of time, the only commercial ventures being to supply ice-cream and crab lines for the families that visit to enjoy timeless pleasures.
Jessica Hogarth-Robin Hood's Bay
The North Yorkshire coast is an artists' paradise, sandwiched between the sea and the earthy moors. The light changes in an instant, clouds descending swiftly and then being broken through by shards of sunshine. The meeting of man and nature, the will to live in what must surely be a place to endure through the winter; a truth belied by the charm of cottages that seem to tumble one atop the other down the valleys, bright doors and bunting filled windows housing the pleasures of Summer. Jessica Hogarth's charming drawings perfectly capture this.
Jane Jackson-'White House'
Howard Hodgkin-'David's Pool'
In amongst the days spent fossil hunting, eating ice-cream and refuelling ourselves with coffee, we enjoyed the galleries of Whitby and Scarborough. The Scarborough Art Gallery has a show of Howard Hodgkin's hand coloured prints running until the 18th September. Infused with the intense colour for which he is famous, their inky freedom has inspired me to embrace some larger scale work. Likewise, the colour in Jane Jackson's felted fabric collages, captured the colours of the moors and has given me a palette to combine with some of the sketches I did whilst away.
So today I'm back in the studio with my mind filled with beautiful memories, a sketchbook of ideas and a fear that I won't be able to realise the images in my head......here goes!
1 comment:
A wonderfully evocative post, and you make a good point: makers are often hugely responsive to the out doors and end up spending so much time indoors
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