coastline | Mari French RI : contemporary artworks

Cove (i) © Mari French 2018

I’ve been falling behind a bit with my posts and this is the first one for May, so I better make up for it. It’s been very heartening to see so many people signing up to follow me lately and I’m very grateful. As is usual in Spring for me, May has been a pretty busy month, but one of the first things I want to tell you about is a new gallery that is now taking my work.

I’ve wanted to show in Cornwall for a while ever since doing art residencies in the area since 2014. So, when The Harbour Gallery Portscatho, asked me a few weeks back if I’d let them have a few pieces of my work, (having sold work for me through their online sister gallery BritishContemporary.Art ) I jumped at the chance. I was planning a week’s holiday (and sketching of course) in St Ives in May, so I was delighted to deliver the work myself.

Cove (ii) © Mari French 2018

These two pieces (50x60cm mixed media on canvas, framed) are both inspired by my experience of the small rocky coves of the West Cornish coast. I’m so pleased to be showing with the award-winning Harbour Gallery as it’s not only a lovely busy artspace in the beautiful coastal village of Portscatho on the Rosedale peninsula near Truro, but the owner Mark David Hatwood is such a friendly and supportive person, a great salesman and also very effective with social media promotion for his artists.

Hopefully this will be a long and mutually successful collaboration.

For more on my recent sketching holiday in Cornwall, see my next post (coming very soon!).

Portscatho harbour, near Truro, Cornwall. © Mari French 2018

Thornham saltmarsh, Norfolk. © Mari French 2018

Rain, sun, stormy, bright… apart from snow, I experienced the full gamut of weather conditions yesterday at Thornham on the North Norfolk coast. It makes for interesting photography but renders sketching out in the open a bit tricky. Plus, it was really cold and windy.

Rain over Holme bird reserve, Norfolk. © Mari French 2018

As I arrived at Thornham bonfire smoke was drifting in over the marsh with the sun illuminating marsh pools and reedbeds. I started walking along the sea defences from Thornham towards the dunes at Holme, having been stuck at a desk with various urgent tasks all week I was desparate to get out.

At one point I was sat on a bench in beautiful warm sunshine with a great elevated view overlooking the bird reserve lake and reedbeds. Then the rainclouds came over and drops started falling on my sketchbook. It looked fantastically dramatic though!

Viewpoint with handy bench! Holme bird reserve, Norfolk. © Mari French 2018

Skeins of geese were noisily flying over as the weather front was quickly blown eastwards and the sun came out again. I took the opportunity to walk over the dunes to the shore for a quick glimpse of the sea (always a tonic in the winter), then headed back the way I came, anticipating the next squadron of rainclouds that I could see on the horizon.

Holme dunes , Norfolk. © Mari French 2018

Thornham creek, North Norfolk. © Mari French 2018

The old coal barn at Thornham was lit up in the sun against the brooding sky, with boats and wooden staithes poking up along the creek next to it. It’s a captivating subject although my sketch of it was pretty rushed and a bit blobby!

Mari French RI : contemporary artworks

distilling the landscape: creating abstract art

Tag Archives: coastline

coves and harbours …

four seasons in one day…

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