Finding those little gems
It all begins with an idea.Hi, Stuart Fraser here, one of GNW directors. I nipped across to the Laing Gallery in Newcastle yesterday to visit the Turner Exhibition on display until September 7th.
Turner is one of my big influencers and an artist I have studied in some depth both professionally with a painting school and on my own. Great exhibition, well worth seeing the Fighting Temeraire and about 20 other of the great mans work in the flesh.
Hi, my name is Stuart James Fraser, I am one of Gallery North West’s 4 Designated Members. As an artist myself and lover of the arts in general, I am always visiting galleries and creative studios on my travels. In August 2024, I made the short train journey to the North East to visit the Laing Gallery in Newcastle, essentially to visit the Turner Exhibition that was in its last 2-3 weeks of run time.
Now I must confess that “Turner” is one of my big influencers , I have studied his work in some depth both professionally with a painting school and of my own investigations into his techniques, colour theory and brush/knife work. The exhibition was fabulous, it was really well worth seeing the Fighting Temeraire and about 20 others of the great mans work in the flesh rather than online and books.
However, The Laing Gallery has its own resident exhibitions, so I decided to spend some very enjoyable time browsing the resident paintings and came across some real gems, at least for me. I love the use of colour and was overjoyed to find the following paintings that use the techniques I try to include in my own work. I am not saying these are the best in the Laing, just my personal favourites for different reasons.
First work is a large canvas by Dame Laura Knight, a truly fabulous British artist of the Newlyn School. Now, I am am a great fan of the Spanish Painter Joaquín Sorolla, I simply love his use of impasto paint to create popping highlights and was so happy to see the same use of thick buttery paint in Dame Laura’s piece. I include a close up below to really show how effective this technique is.
Dame Laura Knight
The use of impasto paint to create those eye popping highlights is amazing, so loose yet so effective
Charles Walter Simpson 1924.
Another Newlyn artist I did not know much about, but I really liked this painting “The Herring Season” I just loved his use of diffused light, loose brush work and Contre-Jour lighting. This image shows the view from his studio window in St Ives, Cornwall. Workers are shown packing herring into barrels for transport. The summer herring season lasted from around July until August or early September. Cornish boats fished off Ireland and often as far north as the Shetlands. The picture shows Charles Simpson's interest in painting bright sun on outdoor working scenes. He was one of the artists associated with the Newlyn School group of painters;
The Herring Season - Charles Simpson
And last a painting by John Bratby RA, founder of the Kitchen Sink realism movement in the 1950's.
John Bratby
Not every ones cup of tea by any means but I admired his bold use of muted colours and rich Knife work. Born Wimbledon, Surrey, 19 July 1928. Bratby was actually a very versatile artist with portraits, still life, landscapes, and flower pieces in his portfolio, he also designed film sets.
Later his work became lighter and more exuberant.
His talent for self-promotion helped to make him one of the best-known British artists of his generation.
Among his publications are the novel Breakdown (1960) and a book on Stanley Spencer (1970).
Art really does put a little sunshine in your life, so visit your local galleries asap and get your soul lifted.