A Celebration of Watercolour.

All too often watercolour painting is overlooked and under-represented in many galleries today which is why we at Beside The Wave have taken the bold step in hosting a glorious celebration of watercolour. A number of our artists are experts in this exacting discipline, and now their work in watercolour can be seen and enjoyed in this special exhibition.

Watercolour is often seen as the poor relation to oils, not considered as "proper painting" by some.

It is also the first choice of many who are new to painting and yet it remains one of the most difficult mediums to master. 

The clean colours and expert draftsmanship of John Raynes work succeed in  making this art form look effortless.

The exuberant splashes and mark making of Richard Thorn are an emotional response to a multiple textured landscape.

The intimate delicate paintings of Amanda Hoskin are beautifully simple and yet wonderfully complex.

The layered colours that Sarah Wimperis employs give a jewel like luminosity to her work.

The chalky twin of watercolour is gouache and this is exhibited with the expert brushstrokes of  Richard Tuff.

We have a preview of this fascinating exhibition in our upstairs gallery from tomorrow, Saturday 1st of October with the full exhibition opening on Saturday 8th October and running until the 19th.

Paul Lewin

This is a stunning exhibition.  These paintings are so evocative that they can give you vertigo.  Become a gull and soar over turquoise seas above granite cliffs.  Taste the salt in the air and fill your heart with the essence of Cornwall.
Paul Lewin has earned a reputation as one of Cornwall's leading landscape artists.  He seems to have captured Cornwall, bottled it and spread it out onto paper and canvas. He works in the landscape producing works in mixed media perched on the edge of cliffs or on top of wind blasted hills.

Laden down with materials his search for the perfect composition, the best light, the sense of place seems to be relentless and he finds it over and over again.

This is no easy way to make work and although Paul cites the usual suspects, Monet and other Impressionists as influences to the way he works he is also interested in the Abstract Expressionists, their wild use of paint.  Spend some time looking at Paul's work and you can see the skill with which he has applied pigment of all sorts to weave these stories of Cornwall that are his paintings.

What appears to be almost photographic from a distance is in fact the most skillful application of media that seems effortless which of course is part of the skill.  It takes years of dedication to be able to do what he has acheived.   Part of what he is doing by making these paintings is asking us to stop and look.  To see the glow of sand beneath the sea, to watch the softly undulating deep blue shadows of the cliffs on the water.  That is what we owe the artist and the landscape.  To this end he has made a series of soundscapes on his web site where you can look at the work while listening to the sounds that surrounded him as he made the painting. It slows us down, a few moments of stillness to really study and enjoy this wonderful work.

It is a joy to have the opportunity to get up close and personal with this work.  His exhibition is on from the 3rd until the 14th of September.  It is an exhibition not to miss and not something to dash past with a cursory glance, these paintings took time to make and deserve to be enjoyed for a lifetime.