Blog
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- Ashley Hanson
THURS 27 NOV
Giddy with excitement, this latest Porthleven painting is now more extravagant, exotic, magical, fantastical, with new diamond-shapes dancing across an even richer blue!. The purples were also revamped and a linear 'v' - crane - introduced onto the bottom edge, bringing context, precision, difference. This small piece of drawing has transformed the painting. It mirrors the triangle on the end of the Fisherman's Pier top-left; it throws the too-flat yellow behind and starts an upwards clockwise movement, linking to the linear diamond and the small shape beyond.
(9) Detail
(8) Nearly there!
TUES 25 NOVEMBER
The breakthrough came with intensifying the blues and bringing in new shapes into the bottom yellow, the flat larger shape, carved out of the paint and glazed, the smaller shape leading the eye into the painting (8). Love the interplay between this cascade of shapes and the surrounding curves, my definition of this harbour landscape.
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(6)
19 NOV
The green on the left was extended and the harbour redrawn with liquid Indian Yellow on the left and a new purple line on the right (6, left). In the next session, (right, above), lively brushwork on both sides of the harbour brought in new dynamism and movement, increasing the contrast with the yellow stillness inside the harbour (6, right)
(4) Real!
18 NOV a.m.
Things are starting to move! In my sleep, I saw green, introduced first thing as a pour, then extended into a large shape, almost like a heart (4). The central yellows were darkened with Indian Yellow, fabulous against the green/turquoise. I can see two ways to go, explored in Photoshop below. The first is the idea of bringing in a sheet of new orangey yellow over the green, leaving the curves at the top and the slanted rectangle to join the dance of shapes. The second possibility is extending the green to the left edge.
(3) Photoshop
17 NOV
Early days but loving the simplicity and the shape of the harbour and the idea of repeated paralellograms. Also the concept of and 'blue into yellow without green' If you are working with yellow, you have to find yellow and its tonal range. The purple is more lively now - I'm enjoying the abruptness against the yellow, and how it tucks in behind as it gets darker. and yet there is more to find, it's either the wrong yellow or the wrong purple, I must find the optimum, an exquisite relationship. The painting has no depth or history or surprise - a long way to go.
(1)
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- Ashley Hanson
THURS 13 NOVEMBER
On the wall today, after the final refinements, I saw 'Goddess', now included in the title alongside 'Amarilla', Denise approves! Amarilla is a Spanish translation for yellow but feminine. For Peter Lanyon, the sea is male but my sea is always feminine...
The extended central purple is now denser and less patchy, a purer curve that pushes/competes with the gang of yellows above. Simplifying in order to see. Freedom...and control: the writhing curves and vertical gestural marks controlled by the paralell-lines of the Fishermen's Pier and the delicate horizontal along the bottom edge.
(detail: gang of yellows!)
(5) View from the sofa...
(4) In good company... 'Porthleven 84 (Stack of Piers)', 'Porthleven 77 (Kasbah)', 'Porthleven 85 (Amarilla/Goddess)'
(3) Nearly there...
SAT 10 OCT
Possibly needs some fine-tuning (3) but the essential new thing, the surprise is there - those central yellows are raw, wild, thrilling!
(2) Harbour and movement...
(1) Beginnings....Blue/orange and white mixes mixes with Prussian Blue and Cobalt Blue
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- Ashley Hanson
30 SEPT 2025
At low-tide in Porthleven, large chevron-shaped steps are revealed at the base of the pier outside the Ship Inn. An idea - and drawing - came, placing these chevrons at the bottom of a painting, 'lifting' the harbour upwards above, with a whoosh of water between piers (1). The clumsily drawn first marks (2) were covered by liqiuid yellows, scraped back the next day to reveal 'ghost-marks', with the orange and blue vertical streaks provoking the palette for the painting (4). Further refinements of line and colour led to the finished painting above which is joyous, animated and ctritically, different, capturing the spirit of the drawing,
'Porthleven 84 (Stack of Piers)' & 'Porthleven 77 (Kasbah)' in the Newlyn Society exhibition 'Perspectives' at Tremenheere Gallery
A curiosity: consciously, subconsciously, after finishing my painting, I thought of this Terry Frost painting with its stack of boats...
'Green, Black and White Movement' 1951 Terry Frost
(4)
(3)
(2)
(1)
- Details
- Ashley Hanson
'For me, abstract painting and figurative painting are not opposites. A painting should be both abstract and figurative.’ Nicolas de Stael 1952
As you can see from the gallery above, an exceptional group of paintings emerged during the recent Aylesbury 2-day workshop, responding to the work of Nicholas de Stael. In advance the artists were asked to make studies of landscape, still life or the figure to bring to the workshop.
The workshop began with an introductory talk, loooking at de Stael's influences, stylistic changes and legacy. This was followed by group exercises and demonstrations, exploring mark-making in both drawing and painting (with a palette-knife!) and translating and simplifying the studies in felt-tip pen. Now we had a way in to painting...
Paintings by Antonia Glynne-Jones
The ambition was not simply to imitate the 'style of de Stael', but to follow his ideals of a fusion of inside and outside, past and present, doing justice to the subject and expressing the feelings triggered by the subject. It's a philosophy that carries through all the 'Freedom in Painting' workshops and courses: paintings rooted in reality, a perception of reality but hooked on to the senses and allowed to develop and evolve as they are made.
The studio at Queens Park Arts Centre, Aylesbury
The 2 days were filled with one-to-one tutorials and further demonstrations, finishing with an invaluable group critique. Curiosity, bravery, hard work and the sprit of Nicholas de Stael certainly paid off during the workshop with some very exciting and inventive paintings produced. Hats off to the artists!
ARTISTS COMMENTS
'The course showed me a very different way of working. Very useful and inspiring. Very enjoyable and relaxed. I learnt a lot from Ashley and found his demos particularly useful' GUY ROSE
'Challenged me to explore new ways of looking at art, preparing for painting and including how to get back on track. Ashley is a kind, helpful and thoughtful tutor - method of teaching and feedback all help me develop my practice' KATY GARROD
'A great two days and thank-you.' JENNY LAW
'Very helpful - always wonderful to follow a specific artist - their style and techniques. Ashley delivers and 'homes in' to these methods which helps up learn and develop. Love the challenge of oils and abstraction - a little out of my comfort-zone!' JUDITH HARPER
'Reminded me that a palette-knife can be great!' PIPPA GREENSMITH
'A great teacher with always something new to give' KAREN MARTIN
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- Ashley Hanson
SUN 7 SEPT - FINALLY!
Take that man's paints away! With 'YinYang' I felt I'd acheived a breakthrough in my work, with the the tall blue mark on the left and the wriggling fat orange line redrawing the harbour transforming the painting. This week, I've been looking again at 'Echo', I wasn't sure about the shape of the harbour and the sameness of the edges and paint-handling and I felt I needed to be as brave and break the painting apart...
I'm happy now.
'Echo' is less polite now: it's moving, pulsating with colour and energy, with edges broken with new blues and purples, punched on with brush and knife. The orange harbour is now a more elegant, distinctive shape with a squeezed' 'waist' and framed by jewels of colour and piers that punctuate the dominant verticality. I'm proud of both paintings equally. Over to the clients!
Detail - 'Echo'
SAT 30 SEPT
Apologies for the low profile recently - I've been working on a commission for a new Porthleven painting, with a specified size and palette. Turquoise and orange - no problems there! I took the the decision to work on two paintings at the same time, which gives the client a choice and also ensures that I have a new painting for my portfolio. For the past few weeks the paintings have been rivals, each provoking the other to greater heights and I'm thrilled to present the finished works, complimentary but each with a distinct strength and surprise. Both have two harbours: orange and blue in YinYang - high tide/low tide? - and in 83, a linear echo of the harbour-shape.
THE STORY
STAGE 5 - Would you stop here? Love the blue square and rhythms of blocks and triangles in 82 but has it become too static? In 83, the wristy brushmark through the paint is a triumph but my gut says it can go further, with more flow and precision and a tuning up of colour.
STAGE 4 - The hot green shape in 82 transforms the painting, provoking the oranges, breaking the symmetry and balance of colour. 83 is transformed by line/drawing bringing in movement, depth and difference and giving me several options for the bottom of the painting.
STAGE 3 - Finding my harbour-shapes and balance of colour...
STAGE 2 - The race begins! 83 noses ahead: I've found a connection between the diagonal drips and the angled wall of the Fisherman's pier.
STAGE 1 - Early days. Markmaking, filling the canvas, finding equivalents in paint and colour for the opposing qualities of stasis and movement, solidity and transparency prevalent in Porthleven. But for me, of course, markmaking is never enough.
