1960s Paintings
‘A JOURNEY’
The journey, really a voyage of discovery, began when in 1959 I decided to base myself in West Cornwall. I lived in a small cottage beside the harbour in the fishing village of Newlyn, and became aware of the thriving artistic community that was scattered across the Penwith Peninsular. St.Ives and Penzance, a mere ten miles apart, mark one end of the peninsular, which narrows to St.Just and the rocky headland of Land’s End, the most westerly point in Britain.
The energy emanating from this extraordinary group of people, literally crammed onto this narrow strip of land, influenced my first steps into a strange and exciting world. For me it was a revalation. This thing called ‘ART’ was on the move; artists in West Cornwall were going beyond the figurative, and inspired by events in New York were developing and evolving a new visual language. Here all around me were brilliant men and women fearlessly pushing the accepted boundaries and making extraordinary new work that would transform people’s perception of a work of art. Exciting times!
As a documentary film maker, my first steps were to document some of this creative activity for TV. In the course of time I become very good friends with many of the artists and observed them at work and just as important…..at play!
By the mid 60’s I was painting myself, mostly because It just helped me to understand the creative process of painting, and certainly made me appreciate better the work of the fantastic artists that I admired.
