St Ives





St Ives. What can I say, except that the week I have just spent there in the sun, overlooking Porthmeor beach, eating Cornish pasties, fish and chips and hanging about sketching, was one of the best weeks I have ever had. I was very pleased with myself and got an art pass and went to the galleries and museums in St Ives and also to a few in Penzance. I recommend all, but I particularly loved Leach Pottery in St Ives, with its film made in the 50s showing how the standard ware was made and the shots of Bernard Leach painting the individual pieces with his Asian influenced designs. I was also lucky enough to be there to see an exhibition of Bill Marshall, the first apprentice taken on at the Leach Pottery. In Penzance, there was a Walter Langley and Birmingham Boys exhibition at Penlee House. I initially thought it would not be my kind of thing, but the way Walter Langley had painted the fisher folk in Newlyn, particularly the women, really got to me. Connected with me. He managed to convey the hearts of these women, the sadness and grief when their men did not come back from sea, the support they gave each other, the memories of their lives in their faces. I can't describe it, except to say, the he painted women like he understood them. And poverty too. That there can be dignity in hard working poverty. Before I left for St Ives, one of my friends got me onto using an A6 sketchbook and I found it really easy to use, as it was much easier to carry around and easier to complete a sketch quickly. The first sketch is overlooking the sea at Porthmeor Beach, the green colour of the sea was incredible. The second is of some things in the place I was staying. And the third is of a house/building sitting directly on one of the beaches there.