Crugkern Barn - Cot Valley
Chris's Artwork
Born in Bristol, and with a degree in Geography and Landscape Studies, Chris’s earlier art work was primarily detailed illustration of natural-world based themes such as birds, animals, flowers and woodlands and her talents for this were recognised in both local and national competitions.
Chris moved to the Lake District in 1986 to complete a teaching qualification and went on to work as an illustrator and tutor at Low Bank Ground outdoor education centre near Coniston devising resources to allow students to access the natural world through art and sculpture. After doing a course in silk painting at the Brewery Art Centre in Kendal she fell in love with the freedom and vibrancy which working with dyes on silk gave her to express her ideas and decided to specialise in silk painting. Now that we live in West Cornwall and it is understandable that with her background in geography, art and the natural world that her work takes its inspiration from her surroundings in West Penwith… the seashore, the wildlife and both natural and man-made landscapes.
Chris’s current focus is ‘rust’. This came about after a trip to Geevor mines on a sunny, summer’s day. We passed a place which appeared to be a repository for all the old, decaying and unwanted machinery from an earlier age. Boilers, rusting iron plates, nuts and bolts, all glowing brightly in the afternoon sun. The depth of colours, variety of textures and range of form were stunning, and so began the latest project.
To capture the inspiration Chris takes photo’s, not to ‘reproduce’ on silk, but to use as a starting point for often more abstract works. Sometimes the whole image works well as a picture, in other cases just a small section provides the inspiration.
The image on the left is a section of an old ‘bollard’ in the harbour at Mousehole. The contrast in both texture and colour from the weathered timber and rusting iron in juxtaposition were stunning and gave rise to the silk painting on the right.
As a keen Pilot Gig rower Chris spends a lot of time on the water and sees the sea in its many and varied moods. Once again, the colours and textures of the water, the boats and the oars have inspired many a picture. (see Morning Row in Mounts Bay below)
As well as silk painting Chris also works with mosaic. Her current project (see left hand picture) is a slate, pebble and glass representation of waves swirling around rocks before breaking on the shore.
The right hand picture is of a “wall hanging”, some 2 metres high, featuring sand, waves and sea-gulls, which we had on the garage wall overlooking the garden in our former house. As we lived some distance from the coast, Chris did this one to remind her of the sea.
Click image to view as a slideshow
