What do Salbturn-by-the-Sea and crab brioche have in common: Inspiration for an art collection

Seeking Differences

Differences are a key ingredient to finding joy and making life feel rich and full. Covid times made differences feel elusive.  In the chinks of freedom in between those trying times a road trip to Saltburn-by-the-Sea, for crab brioche sandwiches, opened a whole new view and sparked a candy coloured abstract landscape collection.

What a view

Roll on the summer of 2021 and an opportunity to breakaway and discover different places, people, views, smells and tastes.  The days felt long and alive with newness.  One difference difference in particular shone out and captured my creative imagination.  It was a view.  A relatively modest view considering I’d just been immersed in rugged drama along the North Yorkshire coast, roamed across heather crested moors and dipped my toes in gentle Lake District waters. The view in question was looking up to a string of hill top Victorian terraces from a vantage point down on the low tide sands of Saltburn-By-The-Sea.

Crab brioche

The purpose of going to Saltburn was to indulge in a crab brioche at The Seaview Restaurant.  During lockdown my family and I watched Nadiya Hussain and Fred Sirieix wax lyrical about Yorkshire brown crab on the BBC’s Remarkable Places to Eat programme and made a beeline for this little seaside town.  It was after popping our names down for a table and waiting on the beach, feet in the water, sketchbook in hand that I turned back to look up at Marine Parade.

Marine Parade

This particular parade is fairly typical of British seaside towns of old.  Dormer windows punched in grey slate roofs looking to the North Sea.  Slabs of chimney pots slicing through the buildings below.  Sash and bay windows jostling for best position on stone and whitewashed elevations.  A slice of blue sky peeping through a gap in the solid blocks of four and five story guest houses running north to south along a grassy ridge.  With these architectural details, the slice of sky and a simple pen and pastel drawing a difference was witnessed and I loved it.

Imagine that

For several days after I kept returning, in my mind, to this view creating playful renditions of my original sketch.  There was a lovely liberation in working from my imagination, seeing how the mood of the view could be altered with paper and paint.

Playing with paint

From the collection of paper studies a series of 50cm x 50cm boards developed.  The purpose of the boards being an exploration into acrylic and polymer based materials while striving to express a sense of place and atmosphere of the Saltburn day.  Over the course of three months the boards took many twists and turns as experimental layers of paint were applied.  The playful results of this project depict four candy coloured paintings incorporating abstracted architectural reference, bold stencil lettering and symbols applied upon rich underpainting.

Referencing memories

The suggestion of an arc shape reaching over the paintings is synonymous with the perspective lines of the grassy ridge Marine Parade is perched upon.  Reference to imagery gathered from a number of towns along this stretch of coast and the fabric of a summer dress mingle with childhood memories of living by the sea all fed into the patchwork of these paintings.

Painting from emotion

An unexpected element required to conclude this project was a huge emotional strength.  It’s was the first time I’d  simultaneously worked on large format boards where the individual paintings have worked together to inform each other.  It was also the first time I’d really wrestled with the process of painting while realising the subject matter.  Perhaps this is an odd thing to admit publicly while sharing a finished collection, however I feel it’s important.  It’s like a right of passage that means I’m learning more and more about art making.  Energy, drive, satisfaction and exhaustion are wrapped up in the process and it’s the latter that took me by surprise in this project.

Saltburn minis

While regrouping and learning from the end of this project I had the opportunity to return to Saltburn-by-the-Sea.  On a balmy 14°C December day, eating crab brioche on the terrace of The Seaview Restaurant, I drew more of this delightful place.  This time the sketches looked down the bay to a string of whitewashed cottages tucked beneath the black strata of Huntcliff and Saltburn Scar.

Returning to my studio I once again used a single sketch as a starting point to a series.  This time the work was small scale (20cm x 20cm), the pace gentle and the pallet a wintery mix of cool blues, burnt orange and field green.  An arced line once again made an appearance and my intention is to continue exploring this recurring shape.  I wonder where it will pop up next?

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