John Raynes. Aspects of Dawn.

Falmouth Docks Study III

230mm x 285mm, oil on canvas £850

To watch the dawn of a new day is a wonderful experience.  As the dark sky begins to herald the coming of the sun, the changing colours and light levels slowly reveal  the still sleeping world.

John Raynes has braved many cold dark mornings to capture these often missed moments.  In a gloriously rich colour pallet the sun rises golden and magnificent over familiar landscapes made mysterious and magical by the beginning of the day.

Soon After Dawn, Penryn Quay

390mm x 500mm, oil on board, £1295

Other paintings in the collection have the soft silvery light and the still calm of early morning.  These paintings are stunning in their exquisite composition and beautiful serenity.

John Raynes has been a very successful painter and illustrator for over 35 years combining this with teaching art to many people both in the UK and aboard.  He has written sixteen books on drawing and painting and has devoted his time to painting  full time from the nineties.  He is a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour  and a professional portrait artist.

This brilliant exhibition of his latest work not only captures the dawning of the new day but also is a testament to the skill and knowledge built over many years of observation and practise as a professional  artist.

Easter Cross at Carn Brea, Dawn

920mm x 1220mm, oil on canvas, £5950

The exhibition can be viewed on our web site and will be in the main gallery until Wednesday 18th July.

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.

Contemporary Impressionism Continues

A SARAH WIMPERIS PREVIEW...
With a lively exhibition featuring John Raynes, Simon Stooks and Alasdair Lindsay.  Three contemporary impressionists, very different styles but all three locked into the tradition of Impressionism, they take the world around them and make it their own, offering up a personal vision of what is there.
Simon Stooks paintings, with their energetic and painterly personality being calmed down by a soft and gentle palette.  They sit on the walls like very excited children bursting to tell you something very, very important.

There are fields, baking dry underneath a Provencal sun, of twisted vines, or overblown sunflowers, with earth colours that have grabbed the sky and kissed it into the ground.  Wonderfully calm beach scenes, the hubbub of summer holiday makers lost amongst the bleached out colours of midday. John Raynes brings us back to Cornwall with his masterful handling of line and colour, he is the best artist I know for capturing the shadows of boats in water. 

His boats float, the water in the harbours is barely contained by the pictures frame.  Light floods in and out of his paintings, waves crash and spume and with each painting you can smell the iodine fresh scent of the sea.

Alasdair Lindsay bursts into the back of the gallery with his paintings shouting "I was there and this is what I saw"  The colours are vibrant and funny and glorious.  He seems to be able to look and look and pull out of a landscape all of the elements that were important.  A post here a rooftop there, a colour reflected in a stone and the hint of a well known landmark.

As well as the colourful smaller paintings there is a truly magnificent painting of Falmouth at night, it is beautiful, the colours are calm and stunning and the little flicks of light on the boats chink like the song of rigging lines against masts that is part of Falmouth's soundtrack.

 The exhibition is a good one, go and have a look for yourself, it officially opens on Saturday 9th July and continues until Wednesday 20th.  There are catalogue paintings available to purchase now and further exhibition paintings should be on line by today.

John Raynes

John Raynes stretches his own canvas as he thinks the basic materials with which he makes his work should be of the best quality.  The stretcher frames are made of hard wood and the canvas is fine primed linen.  This short film is John in his studio stretching a canvas.

Maritime Museum

Thomson "Celebration" in No.2 Docks
660mm x 1020mm, oil on canvas

"Thompson "Celebration" in No 2 Docks" by John Raynes

will be included in the exhibition. 150 Years of Falmouth Docks at the Maritime Museum, Falmouth from 2 Dec – 30 March

The Maritime Museum  will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of the founding of Falmouth Docks with this special exhibition.  Falmouth has been used as a harbour for over 2,000 years and the docks have been an industrial hub since their creation in the mid-19th Century.  Through models, film, objects, paintings and stunning photography the exhibition explores this fascinating history, with a special focus on the Dock’s heyday in the 1950s.



Falmouth Docks courtesy of the David Barnicoat collection

 For our exhibition last year, "Industrial Cornwall" Raynes has made several stunning works about Falmouth docks.  The tangle of metal, buildings and boats providing a wonderful foil for his skills as artist and draftsman.


Dry Dock, Falmouth
350mm x 470mm, pencil on paper



Under Crane
350mm x 300mm, oil on canvas