Monday 18 June 2012

St. Davids

Last week I stayed in St Davids for a week at Whitesands Bay. I’ve never been to Pembrokeshire before so I had no idea what to expect but everywhere was beautiful, quiet and sleepy it was lovely! While I was there I visited a couple of exhibitions as the area has a strong traditional fine art scene. I went to a small exhibition of work by Graham Sutherland a British artist who worked from the 1930s to the 1970s.  His work was fantastic; my particular favourites being the earlier work from his time in Pembrokeshire and his work as a war artist. He used so many interesting marks and shapes turning landscapes and buildings into very abstract forms. The colours were all murky browns, greens, reds, yellows and greys perfectly capturing the tones of the hills, stones and beaches.

Some of my favourites:

 
Welsh Landscape (1936)
 
Road to Porth Clais with Setting Sun (1975)

How Sweet I Roamed (1936)

I also visited a couple of small independent galleries in Porthgain; all of the work (almost all I think) was inspired by or based on the local surroundings and there were some really amazing pieces - inky landscapes and amazing rich coloured skies. My absolute favourites though were the linocut prints by Bernard Green the subtle colours and faded tones were beautiful and the level of detail was incredible. The other gallery contained work by Alun Davies, again mostly scenes from the local area but some really lovely loose paintings of landscapes. Plus paintings of his giant dogs (one came into the gallery and it looked exactly like a polar bear!) which were very sweet.

Some highlights:

 
Alun Davies (Title and Date unknown)


 Bernard Green - 'Fishguard Harbour'

 Bernard Green  - 'Newport Castle'

  Bernard Green - 'St. Hywels Church, Llanhowel'

 Bernard Green - 'Evening Ffynonfaethog'

 Gillian McDonald - 'Coastal Path'

  Gillian McDonald - 'Sea Village IV'

Gillian McDonald - 'Autumn Farm'


I also picked up one of these lovely postcards that have been designed to celebrate 60 years of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. 


 Images courtesy of: 
BBC News South West Wales
National Museum of Wales Art Collection
London Transport Museum Pick + Mix
public.PGFL.org (Pembrokeshire Artists)
Art2By.com
Pembrokeshirecoast.com 





1 comment:

  1. I've had some marvellous times in St Davids. My mum and I went on a residential painting holiday there once, with just six students in the tutor's own house. He took us round to different sites each day in a minibus (incl Porthgain which I've loved ever since) and his wife did us a packed lunch. Three of the other four students were old ladies called Mary who freaked us out as they were so stiff and oldfashioned so we evolved a game of 'shocking the Marys' which involved painting more and more outrageously each day. I've still got the bright pink seascape I did. I love Graham Sutherland too, specially the landscapes.

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