Andrew Talbot Exhibition 2024 by beckstones

Andrew Talbot

After a break of almost 5 years, we couldn’t be more delighted to be hosting Andrew Talbot’s 9th solo exhibition here at Beckstones Art Gallery. Andrew has always been one of our most exciting and innovative artists and his remarkable paintings have delighted us since he first started exhibiting here in 2002.

For this latest exhibition Andrew has created 15 superb new oil paintings featuring a remarkably diverse range of subjects and, as gallery owners, we are always in awe of the limitless depths of Andrew’s imagination and his unique inspiration for a painting. Andrew possesses a rare ability to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary and over the years compositions have ranged from the classic, the romantic, the quirky and the iconic to the brilliantly eccentric. His oil paintings are always so skilfully executed incorporating a subtle yet brilliant use of light and expert application of rich colours that they are impossible to forget and, for his army of collectors, quite impossible to resist.

Andrew was born into a farming family in 1972 and grew up in the Ribble Valley. He started painting at the age of 13 and, inspired by such great artists as Forbes, Caravaggio, Ingres and William Waterhouse, he went on to graduate from Loughborough College of Art with a BA in Fine Art (Painting). After approaching Beckstones in 2002, every painting delivered to the gallery was sold straight away and Andrew has never looked back with a succession of sell out exhibitions and a multitude of awards.

Married to Susie and with two adult children Grace and Tom, Andrew divides his time between his native Lancashire and a bolthole in Southern France.

I am thrilled to present this, my ninth solo exhibition, here at Beckstones. My first solo show was back in September 2005 and at that time our family was just starting out - our daughter Grace was two years old, and my wife Susie was about to pop with our youngest Thomas, who was overdue. Thomas is now a towering 6’2 eighteen-year-old, whilst Grace is twenty-one and just 1 inch less. Throughout these years, my family and my time painting at the easel have been my constants.

I began painting for this new group of paintings in 2023. Each subject in this collection presented its own exciting challenges whilst also bringing me an immense amount of joy to paint. When I paint I often feel like a director of a film or play, bringing characters to the forefront or pushing elements into the chiaroscuro background, and my goal is to guide the viewer through a special moment in time, ultimately telling a story through paint.

It is a much-used cliché, but my work truly is an obsession with light. From the moment I apply the bright white gesso primer up until the final fifth varnish, I am thinking of playing with this light to create an inner glow to each piece in each of the thousands of brush strokes and decisions that I make. Yes, detail at the end is the icing on the cake (literally in some cases) but controlling and obsessing over the light is ultimately what makes a work stand out.

Thank you to Niki and Karen for holding this show for me once again, and to my family for their patience and support.

I hope you enjoy this new body of work.

1. The shipping forecastHebrides, mainly fair 36 x 44cm

The starting point for this painting came from discovering a Victorian wooden spirit level and an old model yacht in my favourite antique shop.

Having lived in the Hebrides for some years, I created the narrative around the turquoise waters off these beautiful, wild isles. The sea chart depicts the Isle of Islay waters and the photo shows Machir beach, also on Islay and on the chart. The dominoes and jacks evoke childhood memories and in the background is the blueprint for the yacht construction.

The shipping forecast was established some 150 years ago. It has been broadcasting on BBC radio since 1925 and I believe it brings a special quality to the spoken word on British radio.

The area forecast from the met office has to follow a strict pattern and the order is always wind direction and speed followed by weather and finally visibility. For this painting the forecast would say… ‘Hebrides. South westerly 1 to 2. Slight. Mainly fair. Good.’

2. Provence hallway 28 x 27cm

I am now blessed that I can paint several months a year from our little Provence village house. Homes here are simple and rustic and both Gauguin and Van Gogh were drawn to this special place and its light. This painting shows a hallway in the early morning, the fire still has a few embers left in the grate and worn limestone steps lead upstairs. Light from the southeast facing glass door starts to warm the house for the day ahead.

3. Zero calories for looking 28 x 28cm

I have a sweet tooth, it’s no secret! With this ‘sweet’ little painting I wanted to create a luxurious, indulgent feel. The dark background has colour hints of cherry and lavender adding a cool velvet feel to the darkness. As well as being able to see the painting I wanted to stimulate the tastebuds too, giving a sense of the taste of the iced cake. A messy one to set up in the studio with cream and melting dark chocolate everywhere but it did have its perks afterwards!

4. Pink peony trio 33 x 33cm

These peonies came from my favourite local flower shop and, once set up in the studio, I watched and recorded them as they slowly unfurled. Three can often be the magic number when it comes to a strong composition and here I created a triangle shape with the viewer’s eye entering at the bottom, leading up to the right and swirling down and out to the bottom right.

Flower paintings like this are all about finding that delicate balance - you want the painting to have strength and a certain boldness whilst also preserving the absolute softness of the petals and the delicacy of the subtle shades of pink and green. Towards the end of the painting I used a pipette to add a few drops of water to some of the petals adding another layer of fragility and translucent reflections to the painting.

5. Rustic retreat 27 x 27cm

The inspiration for this painting came from the cottages of two writers - William Wordsworth’s ‘Dove cottage’ in Grasmere and Thomas Hardy’s cottage in Dorset and different elements from each were used to create a simple corner of a room. Freshly picked cottage garden flowers stand tied in a vase whilst home baked bread sits cooling on a linen cloth in front of the window. I picked the postcard up from a French antique market as I was drawn to the beautiful script handwriting. Outside the window is a simple garden leading straight onto the distinctive misty Cumbrian fells beyond.

6. Cow in the corn

27 x 23cm

A herd of prize Hereford cattle at the top of our village inspired this painting. Here I wanted to achieve a portrait of a cow who was totally at home and at one in her environment. The sun is setting over the distant soft hills and in doing so unifies both cow and landscape in the same golden amber glow. These handsome fellows are equally at home in the pastures of rural England or grazing the great plains of the United States.

7. Hang in there Geoff

18 x 41.5cm

I really enjoy bringing the horizon down in a painting to the height of old model toys and then creating a story. Here an accident with the Chivers delivery truck leaves unfortunate workman Geoff stuck in the middle of the sticky orange jelly. His fellow workmen work hard to free him whilst the American tourists record the commotion on their cameras, secretly looking forward to retelling the story to the folks back home. Over the years I have painted several translucent orange subjects including honey, marmalade, and whiskey so painting orange jelly was a more natural step than perhaps people may at first think!

8. The wooden staircase 30 x 30cm

I love to paint the interiors of homes with a history, where the fabric of the building has absorbed the essence of its inhabitants over the years. Here it is the faded grandeur, the worn-down wooden stairs, the bleached floorboards, the rounded edges, the dusty corners and pictures full of memories that make it such a wonderful subject.

In this painting I had the luxury of having two sources of light illuminating this Suffolk home - the clear cool light of the upstairs bedroom lights the stairwell and the warm west light through the window floods into the hall from the left. Painted from memory, the painting on the wall is one we had in my childhood home depicting a bend of the river Ribble in Lancashire.

9. Doughnut stack 32 x 27cm

This is a depiction of a recurring dream for me where I have a choice of sweet treats all stacked up and am spoilt for choice. I wanted each doughnut to be very different but equally mouthwatering. As a realistic painter in oil, it was a dream to paint the various types of topping from the high gloss of the strawberry, coffee and chocolate to the beautiful matt of the white icing and finally the matt powdery sugar of the deli doughnut. All the doughnuts are stacked on a piece of baking paper which has caught a few fallen sweets from the very top of the tower. The reflection on the glass shelf adds to the precarious height of the composition.

10. Gardenia peonies 50 x 61cm

There is a fabulous florist in a nearby village who found me some great specimens of Gardenia peonies to use as subjects. I kept them cool overnight and then brought the buds into the warm studio capturing them as they unfurled over the following 2 days. I then chose my favourite four and it was then a particular pleasure to get lost in painting these large, beautiful blooms. It was not an easy one to paint as all the colours are so very subtle and clean that one tiny speck of unwanted colour would mean repainting a whole petal. To combat this, I used a brand new brush for each pale petal blend, thus guaranteeing a 100% pure mix. The left background fades from a soft grey cream to a warm buff grey on the right and yet the petals on the left had to stay brighter than the background and the rich pink bloom on the right had to go dramatically darker than the righthand side background. All a very enjoyable challenge!

11. Last rays of the longest day 30.5 x 30.5cm

When we lived in the Hebrides, we were fortunate enough to live near a prize-winning herd of these magnificent beasts and this painting was inspired by one of them. At the very top of the island where these girls lived, you could look out beyond them onto the Isles of Rhum, Eigg, Muck, and Skye as the sun went down at almost 10.30pm at night. In this painting I have captured this moment as the sun dips behind the reeds and the Glengorm forest beyond.

12. Dew roses 23 x 23cm

We are fortunate in the northwest to have several National Trust properties with some world class gardens established over centuries and this rose painting was inspired by visits to these gardens. I usually paint still life setups in my own studio, but for this painting I used outside roses as subjects. I wanted to convey the special morning light and cool freshness of these magnificent blooms in their natural garden setting.

13. County Kerry cottage 33 x 33cm

Each cottage interior has a different atmosphere created by its location. The beautiful County Kerry coast in Ireland where the lush green fields tumble into the rugged coastline of the wild Atlantic Ocean is felt in the interior of this simple Irish cottage. A large bunch of hydrangeas sit on the old oak table and tucked underneath are pairs of wellies, easily at hand for those frequent showers. The simple shaker style kitchen has an old Belfast sink and another vase of greenery from the cottage garden. Wide planked, old, wood flooring dominates the foreground with a wicker log basket ready to warm the hearth.

14. Mickey committed

25.5 x 54cm

The starting point for this painting came from an antique shop find of the vintage Mickey Mouse wind-up toy and comic and I then decided to base the painting narrative around the year 1935.

The tin robot on the left holds a lit match below a rubber band and this moment in time is captured just a fraction of a second before Mickey shoots off to who knows where.

1935 was a halcyon year for American history - the first ever colour Mickey Mouse film ‘The Band Concert’ was released, female American aviator Amelia Earhart flew over the Atlantic solo, Jesse Owens the iconic sprinter broke 3 world records and tied a fourth record in the space of one golden hour in Michigan and on the very same day, legendary baseballer Babe Ruth hit his final 3 home runs in his last professional game.

With all this happening and the emergence of gum ball machines, collectible sports cards and the mass availability of production toys, 1935 must have been a magical time to be a child growing up in the USA.

Golden hour trio

I love the quiet valleys of North Lancashire and the Southern Yorkshire dales where the sheep roam free in their beautiful but wild home high above the pretty villages below.

Set in the last hour of the day before sunset with the sun dipping low, these three young lambs glow from behind with the last of the spring rays as they play in the field.

15.

20 x 39.5cm