One of our tutors, Tessa Frampton, has been invited to show her work as a solo exhibition at the Malting Gallery in Suffolk.
Tessa shares the artistic process she went through to develop the collection:
“I have been working for a year for this exhibition at the Maltings gallery. I have based the theme on three walks, the sailors path from Aldeburgh to Snape, the sanderlings path through Tunstall forest, and across the marshes to Iken.
I have produced a sketchbook for each walk. I have always used sketchbooks to record my walks, what I have seen, weather, birds, colours etc. and make simple sketches using pen or black pencils, I try to retain colours and atmosphere in my mind, I may then use the remembered colour later at home.
The sketchbooks are at the beginning of the process to make paintings. Once in the studio I will make a series of drawings using the sketchbook, memory and sometimes photos as well, these are produced quickly to find the essence of the work I want to make, using mostly ink and various tools to find line, texture and tone. The drawings, as you work on them become more immediate and reflect more of what it felt like to be there, which I hope will be mirrored in the paintings as we naturally bring out the clearest impressions of what we see.
In the sketchbooks I have included drawings from the sketchbook and some of the drawings from the studio.
I hope the viewer may feel as well as see what it is like to go walking through this wonderful, precious countryside with its diverse habitats so richly populated with birds, animals and flora.”
Congratulations Tessa on this wonderful exhibition. If you are in the area, please do visit the exhibition!