Have Palette, Will Travel - Bere Ferrers

 In the lead up to this exhibition I will be blogging random snippets about the background to some of the works to be exhibited...

 Bere Ferrers, Cornwall, oil on canvas 612 x 810mm, £795

When painting in Cornwall I came across this church close to the shoreline.Since it was quite a large church it must have served a thriving community of fishermen and their families in earlier decades. In the churchyard I was surprised to see many boats that appeared to have been dumped. 

Painting Bere Ferrers

Cristiana at Bere Ferrers

"Have Palette, Will Travel" - West Greenwich Library - 15th August - 17th September 2022

"Have Palette, Will Travel" 

50 years of Landscape Painting by Terry Scales

Valley in Shoreham, Kent

In 1939 when I was seven years old I was sent as part of the early evacuations of London children from Bermondsey to Brighton. There I spent many happy months and wrote about my experiences to my father including a sketch of Brighton clock tower, an important local landmark. He wrote back to say he was baffled by my letter since it was heavily censured and the sketch of the clock tower had been removed with a warning not to include such material in the future. This delighted both my parents as it showed there must have been some merit in the sketch!   

Terry at Brighton 1939

After this early 'phoney war' evacuation I returned to London but was sent away again to Devon shortly after. It was here during the war that my love for the countryside was kindled as I spent many happy days exploring and playing in the forests and coastline with my Devon friends.

Returning to industrial Bermondsey after the war was a rude shock but gaining a place in the Junior Department of Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts at age 13 changed my world. Stimulating tutors taught us to look not just at the 'beautiful places' but also the beauty to be found in working environments closer to home. Tutors Johnny Minton shared my love of painting the docks at Rotherhithe and backed up my feeling that the docks were a worthy subject while Martin Bloch extolled the virtues of the English and Welsh countryside and infused them with colour strongly influencing early paintings like Shad Thames.

Shad Thames (not in the exhibition)

A memorable experience at this time that I still cherish was due to the kindness and generosity of our tutor Michael Salaman inviting myself and 2 other students to stay at his Berkshire country cottage for a summer of landscape painting. Here I had an early lesson in the trials and tribulations of 'plein air' painting when while painting in a field I left to have lunch in the cottage and on return found my painting almost completely wiped off. Nearby stood a cow contentedly licking its lips. I was so furious I ran at the cow which then stampeded down the hill. I was terrified it might stumble and break a leg. I learnt later that they love the smell of linseed oil! The events unfolded something like this...

Before...

During...

After

Starting all over again (without cows!). Photo by Natalie Dower. 

More posts on the trials and joys of landscape painting to follow!

Over the years I have taken the opportunity to sketch and paint whilst on holiday and though most of the earlier paintings of places further afield like Canada, Portugal and Bavaria are long sold during the last 40 years my real love of the landscape of the British Isles prevailed and in particular a special fondness for the Kentish landscape.

Throughout these landscape adventures I benefitted from the advice and criticism of my partner Cristiana Angelini (1937 - 2020), also a fine landscape artist. We shared many happy holidays together painting and I hope you enjoy reliving some of these memories with me. 

 

                      Cristiana Angelini                                                        Terry Scales

Exhibition Details:

Title: “Have Palette, Will Travel”

Location: The Gallery Space – West Greenwich Library

West Greenwich Library, 146 Greenwich High Road, SE10 8NN. Tel: 020 8858 4289

Dates: Monday 15^th August - Saturday 17^th September 2022

Special dates: “Meet the Artist” Saturday 27^th August 2 – 4pm

Opening Times:

Monday 14:00 - 19:00

Tuesday 09:00 - 17:30

Wednesday - Closed

Thursday 09:00 - 19:00

Friday 14:00 - 17:30

Saturday 09:00 - 17:00

Sunday - Closed

Crooms Hill from Circus Street

 I've always found the Victorian and Edwardian architecture of Greenwich (London) fascinating. What appealed to me here was the collection of building shapes and colours contrasting with the old 'rustic' wall and gate. When a painting is bought by the homeowner, as this one was, it always feels right like the painting is 'going home'!

Crooms Hill from Circus Street.

More random rummaging through the archives...

 

Tilly (Natalie) Dower was a fellow student back in the 1940s.

Ralph Nuttall-Smith was a fellow tutor at Camberwell in the late 1950s / early 1960s.  

'Kitchen Scene' - one of only 2 litho prints I ever did!

Landscape by junior student Joan Van Crugton 1948/9. How did I get this painting that won a landscape prize? I've no idea! 

Sketch for 'Holy Joe'

Cows 1950

Cousin Audrey

From Ambrose Street (pre-fab) garden 1950 with Peek Freans clock tower in the distance. 

Good Morning Waterloo

 It's always interesting to take close up's of the detail in paintings, like having whole new paintings! This painting, just sold, is entitled Good Morning Waterloo and was painted from a vantage point in a stairwell in an office building at Waterloo. 

Reflections...

 It was lovely to get an email a few years back from the daughter of a very talented local artist, Rosalind Pope a long-term stalwart of the Bexley Art Group in the 1970's - 1990's. Rosalind painted beautiful delicate watercolours as you can see below...

Poppies by Rosalind Pope

Though Rosalind specialised in watercolours she particularly liked and purchased this oil painting entitled 'Reflections by Candlelight' I made in the 1980's. I was so glad to learn that it gave her so much pleasure over many years.

Reflections by Candlelight.

Silent City, Canary Wharf.

How fast time flies... this painting of Canary Wharf was painted in the early 2000's, at the time it seemed like a very dramatic skyline.

Silent City, Canary Wharf. Sold.

Now in 2022 it seems many of the gaps are filled in!