Blog
- Details
- Ashley Hanson
TUES 16 JULY
On a roll with returning to a painting with fresh eyes. We all have paintings that are hidden, that are never entered into competitions or put in exhibition or even on the wall. This was one of mine. looking again. I always thought that the sea was little bit flat and mechanical: with the changes it's much more lively, chaotic and painterly with a new yellow in the top-left, with subtle vertical brushstrokes. Love it - might put into The Discerning Eye if it dries in time.
The four yellows of the title
1 2
- Details
- Ashley Hanson
13 JULY 2024
Transformation: a too-heavy red replaced by dazzling blues, a redrawn harbour and adjustments elsewhere and the emergence of a beautiful painting...
October 2022
- Details
- Ashley Hanson
In early May, we welcomed a group of 9 artists to our 'Freedom in Painting' course in Port Isaac. As you can see from the galleries, our artists were truly inspired by the Cornish coast. We met up in blazing sunshine in Trebarwith Strand for the morning drawing session, the artists capturing the drama and movement of the onrushing tide, with brooding presence of Gull Rock offshore. The loose theme for the course was 'Repetition' and the artists were asked to look for repetitions in the landscape, giving them something new to think about in their drawings and paintings.
Sketching at Trebarwith Strand & Antonia Glynne-Jones' sketchbook with Gull Rock...
After an excellent well-earned lunch in the Port William Inn up on the cliff, we headed off to Bude our second location, a very different landscape with its meeting of sea,river and canal and wide sandy beaches. We were of course, getting to know the landscape through drawing, and looking for ideas for paintings and the Sea Pool in Bude, below, became a popular subject.
Sea Pool, Bude
The following morning we set up the studio in the wonderful Port Isaac Village Hall and began with a quick group exercise before heading out to explore and draw around the harbour in Port Isaac, again with the idea of repetition in mind. If you look for it, you will find it everywhere...
Port Isaac
Back at the studio after lunch, I gave a talk about the use of repetition in art history and in a few of my paintings that I brought along. After another group exercise, it was time to begin translating the ideas and drawings/studies into paintings and I began my rounds as a tutor, discussing ideas and the paintings, offering encouragement!
In the studio...
Over the next few days, it was great to see the beautiful colours and marks being made and the paintings emerge. A rare time for most of us of pure, uninterrupted time for painting, where of course, you can go far. They were a fantastic hard-working group, willing to push their painting into unfamiliar territory. We had a few laughs aswell and a very enjoyable evening out together at The Old Chapel. As always, on Sunday afternoon, we finished with an extensive Group Critique, sharing views on each others paintings and enjoying them too. Hats off to the artists!
Artists dinner
ARTISTS COMMENTS:
'Really great course.Enjoyed every minute. really good tuition' BARRY KELLINGTON
'I really like the format where we go out and draw and then paint from our drawings. Ashley is always extremely helpful back in the studio, discussing where we want the work to go, providing great feedback and encouragement' ERICA SHIPLEY
'All brilliant! Thanks to Ashley for pushing me to new limits of abstraction.' MARION OWEN
'Loved the initial drawing exercise searching for triangles - and the walkabout with Ashley - giving my eyes a spring clean. Loved Ashley's emphasis on how to make a painting interesting as opposed to literal with the emphasis always on authenticity of experience and a sense of place. Appreciated all the personal guidance that Ashley gave throughout' ANNA BADAR
- Details
- Ashley Hanson
WED 10 JULY
I took this painting further today. Putting aside the emotions projected in (4) - and the drawings - I sensed the painting was too busy, too symmetrical, the marks floating on the surface, the bottom curves somehow separate, taking you out of the painting, The sea is now darker, weightier, more menacing, belonging. A flood of orange, a new turquoise, purple over green brings greater colour-drama and a curious light, the bulge of the orange redraws the harbour-shape, adding to the rhythm of curves within the perfection of the square. Ripping, peeling, pouring: history revealed, more depth, new shapes.
The painting seems more complete, surprising and...and..and... unexplainable. Walk away...
detail
(4)
WED 12 JUNE
Went in again with new central stripes (below). Denser colour, more painterly, the Ship Inn, the 'eye', more prominent. The painting is raw, visceral, capturing the physicality, drama and movement of the subject. One of my best, the antithesis, I hope, of the 'tepid, polite and pointless' work described by Jonathan Jones, (Art Critic, The Guardian) in his recent acidic review of the Summer Exhibition (See: Royal Academy Summer Exhibition review – a gasping death-rattle of conservative mediocrity )
Dear Jonathan,
Your scathing article about the RA Summer show was a reminder of what is shallow and what is real - I would like to shake your hand! I considered changing the title of this painting to ‘Varnishing Day’ as my own two-fingered gesture…
Best wishes, Ashley
(3)
MON 10 JUNE
I'm giddy with excitement: going back to the painting - risking all - has transformed the piece (3). The violence of the the sky now zigzags downwards in the harbour shape of Porthleven which sits cradled by the raging sea, linking top and bottom, disrupting the polite, almost decorative stripes. The painting below was anchored in too many places, now it's full of constant motion and menace...
Love the way Porthleven is now pivoted on the central red bar/pier, the gestural marks now have a formal, visual purpose, establishing scale and context: the existential threat becomes real...
(2)
SUN 9 JUNE
The sky crackles with electricity, an apocalyptic sea, the Ship Inn the eye of the storm...
And yet... I'm still looking. Love the sky, the spinning internal frame, the concept and presence of the white dot/Ship Inn as the eye of the storm, and the red brushmarks charging across the canvas. But there are questions:
The dark marks of the sea are beautiful in themselves, but not menacing, almost narcisisstic, aloof. The paint in the harbour-shape and the surrounding greens (below), although raw, have more chararacter, are more distinctive. I cannot work out my 'harbour-shape' in the above, and it worries me. Above all the violence of the colour in the 'sky' doesnt extend into the bottom two-thirds. I don't like the 'wave' drooping downwards in the bottom-left corner. Time to clean some brushes...
(1)
studies