Friday 20 April 2012

Painting in Neath, the Valleys and Powys

Final day of my trip to Wales, and last part of the Great Welsh Journey!

Another day of sunshine and showers, heading out from the city of Swansea towards Neath and on to the Black Mountains.  

Small  villages dotted a patchwork of fields, and bales of hay lay in autumn fields with all the colours of the harvest.  The sun brought out the contrast of the acidic greens of the late summer leaves and grasses.

Harvest, Brecon Beacons (Oil on board, 10 x 10)

At Merthyr Tydfil, I took the road up to Brecon.  The road wound through gentle sloping hills whose sides were all greens with the purple of heathers, and accented by the occasional waterfall.

Road to Brecon (Acrylic, 5 x 7)

Lunch at Brecon gave the chance to reflect on all the places I'd seen, and I started to make notes about how I wanted to arrange the exhibition and articulate all the material that I'd collected.


It had been quite a trip, and there was so much information to deal with.  However I was clear that I wanted the visitor to the show to come on the journey as well, and to feel as if they were involved in following the route and the adventure round Wales. 

At the core of the show were to be 20 oil paintings, with the key things that I'd seen, and then acrylic sketches and drawings, along with the note-taking postcards, which would inform and add to those core paintings.  Other artists involved in the show would provide different perspectives on Wales and the whole Welsh experience, including landscapes and still lifes.

I also wanted to have a 'Guidebook' to the exhibition - something which would help you get your bearings on the journey, something a little bit different.

Seven months after the trip, the next part of the journey starts with the opening of the show in Bristol next week...

If you'd like to see the fruits of my travels, you can view the paintings online here and the all the postcards here.

If you'd like a Guidebook and an invite to the show, please contact the Lime Tree Gallery here.

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