Coming Home
Lesley Seeger i A contemporary colourist’s approach to English Landscape
Q
ii
MERRY CHRISTMAS HETH!!! Here’s your personal online version of the Book I did this year. Your proper ‘booky’ version is waiting for you in the UK Love Kraff x
iii
iv
Coming Home
Q v
Chronology 1958 Born Newcastle Upon Tyne 1967 Moved to Ripon North Yorkshire 1969 Attended Ripon Grammar School 1974 York College of Arts and Technology Art Foundation Course 1976- 1981 Royal Court Theatre - London
1981 Southampton University BA English, Design and Media. 1984 Bristol Festival for Children 1986 Educational publishing 1995 Birth of son, Hamish 2000 Sheffield University Postgraduate- Art Psychotherapy
Exhibitions 1997 Helmsley Art Centre 1998 Waterstones - York 1999 Zillah Bell Gallery - Thirsk 2001 York Open Studios Zillah Bell Gallery - Thirsk 2002 York Open Studios 2003 York Open Studios 2004 The Barge - Goole University Of York St John York Open Studios 2005 Ocean Terminal - Edinburgh York Open Studios
vi
2006 Saltbox Gallery - Helmsley Staithes Gallery York Open Studios 2007 Artspace Saltbox Gallery - Helmsley York Open Studios 2008 Saltbox Gallery - Helmsley York Open Studios
2015 According to McGee - York Art & Rose - Pocklington North Yorkshire Open Studios Saltbox Gallery - Helmsley 2016 The Bath House - Harlow Carr, Harrogate The Biscuit Factory - Newcastle
Blue Tree Gallery - York The Great North Art Show - Ripon Cathedral Pyramid Gallery - York Staithes Festival Yorkshire Arboretum - Castle Howard
2009 Art Space - York Norman Rea Gallery - York University Saltbox Gallery - Helmsley Staithes Gallery 2010 Pyramid Gallery - York Saltbox Gallery - Helmsley York Open Studios 2011 Artspace - York Saltbox Gallery - Helmsley York Open Studios 2012 Pyramid Gallery - York Saltbox Gallery - Helmsley York Open Studios 2013 Pyramid Gallery - York Saltbox Gallery - Helmsley York Open Studios 2014 Pyramid Gallery - York Saltbox Gallery - Helmsley North Yorkshire Open Studios York Open Studios
6. Alnwick Castle Northumberland acrylic on board 19in x 19in
7. The Wedding Field Revisited ii acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft vii
8. Detail from Helmsley Walled Garden Revisited mixed media 21in x 21in
Dedication My son Hamish for kick-starting my creativity by arriving on the planet. My parents Jim and Shirley for letting me roam when I was little and giving me a safe place to come back to. Betsy and Pablo - legendary Jack Russells - who have been my frequent companions on my rural ramblings. My husband Michael for being a driving force - for his expertise and passion for publishing - his vision and constant support. Kat Wood - my assistant and graphic designer - without whose talent, hard work, friendship and humour this book would not have been possible. All my great friends for bringing colour to my life.
9. Lesley and Hamish in Ampleforth
Acknowledgments Catherine Mooney and Gillian Upton-Holmes editorial guidance Colin Poole, Jim Poyner, Lucy Saggers, Sas, Joe Thomas and Kat Wood photography Kat Wood page design Terry Brett interview and foreword Quacks Books my publisher, for proof-reading and guiding the book through the design, print and binding process. My thanks to Katy Midgeley, Martin Nelson, Horst Meyer and Michael Sessions. The John Jackson Trust and Pyramid Gallery for helping to fund Coming Home viii
Coming Home A contemporary colourist’s approach to English Landscape
Lesley Seeger Foreword & Interview by Terry Brett
Published by Quacks Books, 7 Grape Lane, Petergate, York printed by Quacks the Printer, Jackson House, 7 Grape Lane, Petergate, York
Q ix
Š Lesley Seeger - www.lesleyseeger.com - www.facebook.com/lesleyseegerartist - www.twitter.com/lesleyseeger all rights reserved by the copyright owner The moral right of the author has been asserted. Published by Quacks Books, Pertergate, York, London, Hong Kong, Philadelphia, Perth and Tokyo in association with Pyramid Gallery, York and the Biscuit Factory, Newcastle upon Tyne British Library cataloguing in publication data Lesley Seeger Coming Home: A contemporary colourist’s approach to English Landscape isbn 978-1-904446-74-3 first edition 2016 compiled and art works by Lesley Seeger design and typography Lesley Seeger, Michael Sessions and Kat Wood obtainable direct from the publisher or bookshops and galleries in York, Ripon, Newcastle, Cambridge, Tetbury, London Set in Baskerville 12pt, ranged left with occasional emboldening and italicising with one and a half point inter line leading, chapter headings ranged left in 34 point Baskerville bold, running heads verso 12pt bold, recto 11pt italic, page size 265mm x 245mm with an inside margin, gutter of 12.5mm, top margin, head of 22.5mm, outside margin or fore-edge of 22.5mm and bottom margin, foot of 32.5mm illustrated with photographs of original acrylic paintings and monoprints by Lesley Seeger Printed on a 150gsm matt book art chosen for its sustainability, section sewn and bound at Quacks the Printer, Jackson House, 7 Grape Lane, Petergate, York Yo1 7hu, t 0044 (0)1904 635967 f 0044 (0)1904 623714, info@quacks.info, wwwradiusonline.info Front Cover Front flyleaf Prelim i Prelim ii Half title Page 52 Back Cover
1. Beach House, acrylic on canvas, 3ft x 3ft 2. Lesley Seeger in the studio, Huttons Ambo, photograph by Joseph Thomas 3. Still life class, photograph by Lucy Saggers 4. Lesley outside the studio in Huttons Ambo, photograph by Joseph Thomas 5. Beach House, acrylic on canvas, 3ft x 3ft 86. Paintbrushes in the studio, photograph by Joseph Thomas 87. Rite of Spring, acrylic on board, 3ft x 3ft
x
Contents Chronology iv Foreword x Preface xi Inspirations and Influences 1 Process and Practice
19
Into the World 35 Current Plans and Projects
39
Paintings 2006 - 2016
41
10. Details from Fields of Barley acrylic on canvas 37in x 37in xi
Foreword This collection is a celebration of the pleasure of looking and seeing; a joyous collection of colour, patterns and landscapes. The paintings are mostly large; richly layered, lightly textured and delicately painted. Book illustrations can never quite capture the experience of looking at the originals, but along with the text they help tell the story of their creation. A feature of Seeger’s early work, often inspired by visits to India, Sri Lanka, Tunisia and Egypt, is the highly decorative effect of the carefully considered colours and patterns. Those who have spent time considering the nature of her paintings will enjoy reading in this book about the person behind them. Her early floral work was much loved in her adopted home town of York and developed the technical foundation for her more recent plein air and landscape painting. Since moving from the city of York to the Yorkshire Wolds her art career has progressed rapidly. Exhibiting in prestigious galleries in Northern England such as The Biscuit Factory in Newcastle and The Blue Tree gallery and According to Mcgee in York, Seeger has work in both private and public collections at home and abroad. With the launch of this book, she is about to show her work in Pyramid Gallery in York with an exhibition of limited edition
11. The Cornfield acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
12. Detail from The Wedding Field acrylic on canvas 4ft x 4ft
prints of her Special Places in the North series.
works illustrated here are informed by all those things and the words she uses to describe those influences are revealing and inspiring. This is not just a catalogue of her art; it is a description of the mind of a true artist.
This artist has a dedication to her painting that stems from an appreciation of the natural world that is elemental. Travel, art from many cultures and a love of colour and beauty, are all bound together by a deep sense of spirituality. The xii
Terry Brett Director of Pyramid Gallery, York
Preface It seems auspicious that in the year of the publication of this mid-career retrospective, I am exhibiting for the first time in Newcastle Upon Tyne in Northumberland, the city of my birth, and in the cathedral city of Ripon in North
Yorkshire where I spent my childhood and adolescence from the age of nine. These two cities, and their surrounding countryside, helped to form me as an artist and an individual. This is the story of my artistic journey.
xiii
xiv
Lesley Seeger Inspirations and Influences
Coming Home
What do you remember as your earliest influences and special places? My childhood house in Ponteland is full of powerful, formative memories. In those days it was an almost silent backwater. I remember the particular quality of the silence. Mine was a free-range Fifties childhood where we roamed unchecked and returned when hungry. At five I travelled unchaperoned two miles to school on the bus and walked home the same way. My parents encouraged me to go to church every Sunday. I loved the hymns for the singing and the power of their words. The older girl who took me often pressed small surprise gifts into my hand in the middle of sermons. For our holidays we camped in Scotland and stayed in cottages on the Northumbrian coast: Holy Island, Bamburgh, Cullercoats and Whitley Bay.
1
Inspirations and Influences
I was a child before the days of everyone being too fearful to let their children out of their sight. I think this is why Fern Hill by Dylan Thomas is one of my favourite poems; it describes the sort of free rural childhood that I enjoyed. Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs The night above the dingle starry About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green Time let me hail and climb Golden in the heydays of his eyes And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns And once below a time, I lordly had the trees and leaves Trail with daisies and barley Down the rivers of the windfall light
13. Detail from Bamburgh Castle from over the Fields mixed media 2ft x 2ft
14. Lesley on Bamburgh Beach, Northumberland
2
Coming Home
Are there any particular people who have influenced the development of your work? Mr Smith, whose nickname was Sas, was the Art teacher at Ripon Grammar school. Double Art was an oasis of unfettered imagination and freedom. His encouragement and kindness from the ages of eleven to sixteen, sustained me throughout the sometimes bleak years of formal education. He would always write ‘excellent’ in my school report next to the ‘abysmal’ I got for chemistry. The birth of my son Hamish was another major influence on my life. Pregnancy at the age of thirty six released a creative surge and the absolute necessity to paint. A friend who had been to the Slade, and whom I greatly admired, gave me four large stretchers, told me where to order the paint, the canvas, the rabbit skin glue and brushes and said ‘get on with it’. That was the beginning of serious painting for me.
sas grammer school Hamie baby
3
Inspirations and Influences
15. Studley Roger mixed media 2ft x 2ft 16. Lesley at Ripon Grammar School aged 16 photograph by Sas 17. Lesley Seeger, Ripon Grammar School Front row, fifth from right Image captions are numbered in the order of the paintings and describe each double page spread of paintings commencing top left and proceeding in a clockwise direction.
4
Coming Home
You have said you like ‘special’ places where nature is strong. Places where you can still feel the elements, where nature has not been subdued are becoming increasingly rare. St Kilda in the Outer Hebrides is one of the most exciting places I have visited from this perspective. Some places are especially ‘elemental’. In paintings like Chop Gate Moor and Filey from the Brigg I try to explore this idea of being a little person in a large landscape.
Tell us about your artists’ retreat in Galicia.
18. Lesley plein-air painting with Pablo photograph by Joseph Thomas 19. Filey from the Brigg acrylic on canvas 37in x 37in
20. Chop Gate Moor i acrylic on canvas 37in x 37in
The house is remote and rustic, set among forests of horse chestnut, oak and birch. I would like to turn it into an artists’ retreat and a place for artists’ residencies. I have a dream of spending a year there and producing a body of work which has been inspired by this region.There are twelfth century churches, acres of vineyards, the Camino walks and Santiago de Compostella. It is totally unspoilt and relatively devoid of tourism. Galicia is like a separate country from the Spain most English people know. It is reminiscent of Wales or the Lake District, though hilly rather than mountainous. The weather can be extreme: cold in the winter, hot in the summer and rainy throughout the year. It is one of my wild places where Nature is strong.
Inspirations and Influences
5
6
Coming Home
How has the move from city to country affected your work? The move from city to country radically affected my work. I began to paint in plein air using the landscape around me as my studio. The work became grounded in observation rather than imagination. I began to look outwards for my subject material. The environment around Huttons Ambo, where I have lived since 2011, has given birth to my first landscapes painted out in the field. I take paints in my rucksack and five canvas boards. While one scene dries I move on to the next, which might be half a mile away. Paintings are balanced on top of hedges or under trees. Then I return to each one for the next layer. Recently I have become interested in painting well-known buildings within the landscape. This body of work has become known as my ‘Special Places in the North’ series, and has taken me back to York to look at the city afresh as a source of inspiration.
21. Burton Agnes Hall - The Gatehouse acrylic on board 2ft x 2ft 22. Lesley Seeger working on the background of Burton Agnes Hall The Gatehouse in situ. June 2016 photograph by Kat Wood 23 - 26. Process of Burton Agnes Hall - The Gatehouse Image captions are numbered in the order of the paintings and describe each double page spread of paintings commencing top left and proceeding in a clockwise direction.
Inspirations and Influences
7
8
Coming Home
27. Rakes Lane acrylic on board 19in x 19in 28. Towards Philips House acrylic on board 19in x 19in 29. Hutton Bank acrylic on board 19in x 19in 30. Beyond the Fort Field acrylic on board 19in x 19in 31. Towards the Wolds acrylic on board 19in x 19in Image captions are numbered in the order of the paintings and describe each double page spread of paintings commencing top left and proceeding in a clockwise direction.
Inspirations and Influences
9
10
Coming Home
Has your love of poetry and literature influenced your painting? When I was at primary school in Ripon we went on a school trip to Haworth to the Brontë Parsonage. The visit haunted me and made a lasting impression. Many people who visit the parsonage remark that the presence of the Brontës can still be felt. I think this sense of place is something that is important in my recent work; trying to record more than what the place looks like but also how it feels and what has happened there. This is particularly apparent in paintings like The Beach House or The Bird’s Nest Harlow Carr. There is a strong narrative sense to the work and sense of place. From a young age I read and wrote a lot of poetry. Literature was where I explored my ideas about life. Philip Larkin is still one of my favourite poets and when I was a nihilistic teenager his antisocial poem Wants held special appeal. Beyond all this, the wish to be alone: However the sky grows dark with invitation-cards However we follow the printed directions of sex However the family is photographed under the flag-staff - Beyond all this, the wish to be alone.
32. The Bird’s Nest - Harlow Carr acrylic on board - 19in x 19in 33. The Beach House acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
34. Lesley in the sitting room photograph by Colin Poole
Inspirations and Influences
11
12
Coming Home
35. Detail from Poppies acrylic on board 2ft x 2ft 36. Willing the Birds Back Home ii acrylic on canvas 37in x 37in
Later I loved Thomas Hardy and Rumi. Hardy for his appreciation of a pre-industrialised English landscape and Rumi for his mysticism. Larkin wrote poetry about a world where the influence of God has waned. Rumi wrote poetry which places God at the centre of everything we do. The tension between these positions and the time in which I was born makes me the sort of artist I am. I think I am always seeking to create beauty and harmony out of chaos; A new whole from disparate parts. Do you ever feel blocked creatively? I do go through phases when my work seems dead and pointless. The last time that happened was when I had been making floral paintings for fifteen years. I became
bored with myself and with what I was doing and needed to break away. It is always important to be pushed out of your comfort zone and to approach your work in fresh ways. Really there are not enough hours in the day or years in my life to do all the things I want to do with painting. Each work is a step into the unknown. I never feel complacent or secure. I am always fearful when facing a blank canvas and I always think I cannot do it. The work has a life of its own. There is an element of being there and also getting out of the way. I think all creativity has a sort of magic in it. The really good work has an element that seems to come from elsewhere; something which is beyond our control. I think when I am creatively blocked it is time to go on an adventure, a holiday, sailing, walking or swimming.
Inspirations and Influences
13
14
Coming Home
What are your views on religion and spirituality? Religion has always featured in my life. Encouraged to go to Sunday school, I usually attended Methodist churches where there was an emphasis on singing. Both at primary and at secondary school we had prayers and hymns at least once a day. I am glad I grew up in an age where we learnt the Lord’s Prayer. It has helped me in times of distress or trouble. From an early age I had a strong sense of a spiritual life.
This was connected to Church on Sunday, but also to my immersion in Nature. At the age of sixteen I became interested in the Gurdjieff movement otherwise known as The Fourth Way. I read Ouspensky and Bennett and was influenced by a lot of older people who had been in ‘the work’ for years and had been on a year course of study in Sherbourne, England, which was run by J. G. Bennet who had studied directly with Gurdjieff. Eventually at the age of twenty nine I went on a three month course in Claymont, West Virginia. Here we experienced a Buddhist retreat, services in the Catholic monastery, and Zikhr prayer with a Meslevi sheik. I had my first experience of God during this form of Islamic prayer with breath. Every morning we did ‘movements’, a form of sacred dance. I will never forget the day they carried the grand piano outside for sunrise and we did ‘salute to the sun’ standing in bare feet in the snow as the sun came slowly up. The pain was incredible but I have never forgotten the extraordinary beauty of this experience, with body, mind, emotions and spirit all connected and awake. Sunrise from the studio reminds me of that morning. The heart of all faith must be kindness and compassion. When I left the Gurdjieff movement (which can be a bit ‘hair shirt’) and returned to Christianity (I was confirmed when I was thirty six), it was the unconditional love of Christ I sought more than the forgiveness of my sins.
37. Sunrise at Huttons Ambo acrylic on board 19in x 19in 38. Lesley working in her studio, Huttons Ambo photograph by Joseph Thomas
Inspirations and Influences
15
16
Coming Home
One poem by the Islamic 12th century Sufi mystic Jelaladin Rumi has lived with me in a frame on my wall for the last thirty years. It is as relevant today both in terms of the spiritual life and in my life as an artist. It talks of the ability to begin again: Come, come, whatever you are, it doesn’t matter Whether you are an infidel, an idolater or a fire-worshipper, Come, our convent is not a place of despair. Come, even if you violated your swear a hundred times, come again.
39. Willing the Birds Back Home acrylic on canvas 49in x 49in
40. Waning Moon acrylic on canvas 12in x 8in
Inspirations and Influences
17
18
Coming Home
Lesley Seeger Process and Practice
What can you tell us about your artistic process? The process for Pablo at Castle Howard Arboretum is typical of how my paintings develop. The beginning of the painting was made in the Arboretum and later developed in the studio. I take photographs and make sketches for reference, but the body of the work is created in the field. Completion of a painting can take anything from eight weeks to a year. A piece of work has to go through a period of chaos and falling apart. Sometimes I have to take it to the point of destruction before it comes alive. I bring the colour up and tone it right down, apply paint and take it away until I achieve not only balance but a work which breathes.
19
Process and Practice
I usually work on five paintings at a time. When I get blocked with one or am waiting for the paint to dry, I move onto another. I like the marks this layering creates. It gives the work patina and depth. Sometimes I apply the paint in an opaque fashion and at others, like a watercolour wash. I keep on applying and reapplying, taking away and adding until balance and content has been achieved. Along with a sense of place, I try to convey a sense of time. With Castle Howard and the Carmire Gate I got up at four in the morning to paint. I also ventured out on several moonlit nights in order to work without traffic sounds and to capture the misty half-light, in which historic buildings look particularly good.
41. Detail from Pablo in the Arboretum 42. Pablo in the Arboretum acrylic on board 19in x 19in
43 - 46. Process of Pablo in the Arboretum
20
Coming Home
The title of your book Coming Home has significance for your return to exhibit in the cities where you spent your formative years. What is its significance for your work and process? Each painting is a sort of Coming Home. I am seldom happier than when painting. The rest of the world with its worries disappears and I am at home, centred in myself doing what I am meant to do. This experience has got stronger with age. When a painting is finished and I am happy with it then the work has ‘come home’. It is resolved and needs nothing else. When I first see something I want to paint I capture it with the camera or with a sketch and bring it home to the studio to bring it to life.
47. Castle Howard acrylic on board 2ft x 2ft
49. In the studio at Huttons Ambo photograph by Joseph Thomas
48. Carmire Gate - Castle Howard acrylic on board 19in x 19in Image captions are numbered in the order of the paintings and describe each double page spread of paintings commencing top left and proceeding in a clockwise direction.
Process and Practice
21
22
Coming Home
Process and Practice
Over the past twenty years how has your work developed? When I first began painting my approach was completely free range and intuitive. An exploration of colour was prominent at the start, but I worked more from imagination rather than observation. I liked to see where the painting would take me. A lot of the work was floral and dealt primarily with colour, mark making and experimentation with paint application. Early work was also unashamedly decorative. However with my current work I find myself looking more towards structure and content and I have become very conscious of the need for strong composition. My floral period lasted fifteen years and enabled me to develop a lot of techniques. My new work is a combination of all the knowledge built over the past twenty years combined with a more considered approach which is grounded in observation, drawing and photography.
23
As well as the floral paintings, my early work was inspired by travels to India, Sri Lanka, Egypt and Tunisia. I therefore worked a lot with a warm palette. Recently my colours have become cooler to reflect the English landscape. Early landscapes were true hybrids incorporating hot exotic colours into English fields, but my current work explores the full range of cool colours. Colour remains the most exciting and essential element for me, but now it is wedded to a need for strong composition, observation and inner content. Everything I have learnt over the past twenty years is coming together in my new work. 50. Rite of Spring acrylic on board 3ft x 3ft 51. Funky Flowers acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
52. In the studio at Huttons Ambo photograph by Joseph Thomas
24
Coming Home
Your recent work has been described as narrative. Can you expand on this? I am interested in what is behind what I see, in what is unseen. Through a process of distillation I want to be able to capture something of essence, mystery and story. The layering technique I use can be likened to strata of meaning and the passing of time, like layers of old wallpaper in a house. I think it ties in with me being interested in describing a sense of place; in atmosphere, mystery and suggestion. Paintings such as The Garden of Sarah China, Pablo with the Needle in the Yorkshire Arboretum, Birds Nest at Harlow Carr and Carmire Gate - Castle Howard, are good examples of this.
53. Process of Pablo with the Needle in the Yorkshire Arboretum 54. Pablo with the Needle in the Yorkshire Arboretum acrylic on board 19in x 19in
55 - 58. Process of Pablo with the Needle in the Yorkshire Arboretum
Process and Practice
25
26
Coming Home
You have been described as a contemporary colourist. What does colour mean to you and how is it important to an understanding of your work? Colour is central to my work. It is a separate language to be constantly explored. Or rather it is like learning a hundred new languages, as each colour has its own world of possible variations. After twenty years I have barely begun to explore colour. We should never underestimate its power to disturb or heal or calm. Colour can light up a room or close it down. Generally the English are very reserved when it comes to colour, more so than other European nations, but this is changing slowly. As my work has moved from the imagined to the observed, I have enjoyed exploring a more muted palette and also combining the hot colours of India and Sri Lanka, so dominant in my early work, with the more muted tones of English landscape. Water Meadow and Hogweeds are good examples of this.
59. Hogweeds acrylic on canvas 21in x 21in 60. The Water Meadow acrylic on canvas 2ft x 2ft 61. Lesley working on View from East End Ampleforth photograph by Colin Poole
Process and Practice
27
28
Coming Home
You talk about the importance of composition. How things are placed within the frame of a painting is important for the final strength of the piece. Out in the landscape, searching for the right thing to capture, I look at how different elements work together; the skyline, the strength of light and dark, the ways in which things are placed in relation to each other. I am always looking for balance and symmetry between different but complementary objects. Light, and how it falls, has a lot to do with what makes an image mundane or special.
62. Winter Flowers acrylic on board 19in x 19in 63. Castle Howard ii acrylic on board 2ft x 2ft
64. Detail from Blue Bowl with Flowers acrylic on board 3ft x 3ft
Process and Practice
29
30
Coming Home
Can you tell me more about your printmaking studio at Jackson House in the centre of York? In many ways my printmaking informs my painting. It was through printmaking that I began to see the advantage of using black and very dark blues. I had always avoided and been afraid of dark colours until I began to see what they did to the light. Thus far I have experimented with three types of printmaking: dry point etching, collagraph and mono printing. Mono printing is the most painterly and immediate and best suited to my way of working. The image can be built up in layers of colour. It is a very free range and organic way of working but still requires careful planning, preparation and thought. It is very easy to get all of your planned images the wrong way round as it
prints the mirror image of the plate. For a painter who paints in layers and who delights in experimentation with colour mono printing provides both an opportunity and a challenge. Inks do not behave in the same way as paints and this particularly applies to colour mixing. It is a whole new science. My first dry point etching, The Lovers, was such an exciting departure from my usual way of working that for a while I became obsessed with the practice. I went on to produce six dry point etchings for Selby Hospital and then a collection of plein air prints of the Lake District. I took the metal plates out with me on a walk in Semmerwater and scratched the sketch directly onto the aluminium plate. Collagraph is a process where the plate is built up with various materials from string to glue to embossed wallpaper. The ink stays on the plate where it is raised up and that gives you your print. This is the opposite of dry point etching where the design is scratched into the plate and the print comes from the ink that stays in the scratches.
65. Moon Bird 4 Mono Print 9in x 6in 66. When the Light Comes Mono Print 14in x 14in
67. Vase with Flowers Mono Print 20 x 16in
I like the surprise element of printmaking, the unexpected mark. It is a very lively process. This aliveness is very important in my work.
Process and Practice
31
32
Coming Home
With regard to commissions, how does your process differ from other work you produce? Working to commission has produced some of my best work. It either takes me out of my comfort zone completely or provides an opportunity to revisit and further develop earlier ideas. Often customers will ask me to paint something inspired by a painting they have found on my website, but with different colours. Some artists might consider this something they would not want to do, but I find it provides an opportunity to explore an earlier work afresh; to develop, refine and expand upon it. I like the fact that a commission is founded on a ‘relationship’ rather than just me alone in the studio. From the beginning there is a dialogue with other people and I am creating something which is important to them. When I am painting a commission the people who have asked me to create the piece are always in my mind. They are woven into the fabric of the work from the start and in that sense the work is intensely personal. People often commission work of a place which is important to them; Chop Gate Moor, View from East End, Ampleforth and Filey from the Brigg are examples of this. Other recent commissions
include paintings as diverse as Tea in the Birdhouse and an observed study of the interior of Kirkbymoorside Quaker Meeting House. The latter provided an opportunity to study light in a way I never have done before, and in doing so to try to capture something of the essence of Quakerism.
68. Detail of Kirkbymoorside Quaker Meeting House 69. Kirkbymoorside Quaker Meeting House acrylic on board - 19in x 19in
70 - 72. Process of Kirkbymoorside Quaker Meeting House
Process and Practice
33
34
Lesley Seeger Into the World
Coming Home
You have worked as a Community artist and Art Therapist in a variety of social settings and you were Artist in residence in York hospital for six years. Can you tell us a little about that? Working at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust as Artist in Residence in the Renal Unit for six years was one of the greatest privileges of my life. I met many exceptional people who shared their life stories with me and together we created some exciting works of art, which are now on public display in the hospital. The people I worked with were often very ill but became some of my greatest teachers. Inspiring me with their courage and positivity in adversity, they pushed me creatively into new realms and made me take on challenges I did not think I could achieve.
73. Detail fromWilling the Birds Back Home acrylic on canvas 49in x 49in
74. Detail from the mosaic trees created by members of York Hospital’s renal patients. 8ft x 12ft Photograph by Jim Poyner
Into the World
I did a lot of mosaicmaking when I was there. It is more accessible for people who are new to making art and it also adapted well to the clinical setting. In an environment where people were face to face with their mortality, we created something new and exciting which was full of life and colour. To be able to create, when just staying alive has become a challenge, can totally change the patient experience. It is a credit to York Hospital and those in a position of choice that in these straitened times the healing power of creativity and its ability to transform an otherwise dispiriting environment is recognized and supported.
35
36
Coming Home
Tell me a bit more about your teaching and Public Art. Teaching makes me think about what I am doing in fresh ways and it is rewarding to be able to inspire others. Hopefully I balance the ability to be ruthless with gentle encouragement. I sometimes suggest students destroy sections of their work in order to access something more exciting or harmonious. This is done in the knowledge that a painting can become stilted because of one section the artist is attached to and which stops the rest from functioning. You have to be prepared to take risks with painting. If you do not, your work will be safe but not as exciting as it could be and it will not develop. Many of the processes of painting are perfect metaphors for life. I remind students that the process they go through, the fear of the white canvas is common to everyone who tries to paint. I try to encourage people to become more free in their mark making and paint application.
75. Still life class in York Art Gallery photograph by Lucy Saggers 76. The Garden of Sarah China acrylic on board - 19in x 19in
77. Teaching in the Mark Hearld Lumber room at York Art Gallery photograph by Lucy Saggers
Into the World
37
38
Lesley Seeger Current Plans and Projects
Coming Home
How does the title of this book Coming Home relate to your current work? Over the past twenty years I have developed techniques that are in a constant state of growth and development, experimentation and flux. Each new painting teaches me something new. Yet despite this dynamic aspect to my work there is also something static which is grounded in being here in England in one place, recording what is in front of me in the English landscape. One of the dictionary definitions of ‘home’ is the place where something is discovered, founded, developed or promoted; a source. In this sense whenever and wherever I
Current Plans and Projects
am inspired to paint is a Coming Home, a return to centre. Home is also described as a valued place, a refuge or place of origin. Painting for me is a connective experience. It is like being plugged in and switched on. Nowhere feels quite
78. Detail from Bamburgh Beach 79. Bamburgh Beach acrylic on board 19in x 19in 80. Bamburgh Castle from over the Fields mixed media 2ft x 2ft
81. Alnwick Castle Northumberland acrylic on board - 19in x 19in 82. Dog Rose near Kelso mixed media 19in x 19in 83. Blue Bowl with Yellow Birds and Flowers acrylic on board - 3ft x 3ft
39
like home as much as the studio and yet, when painting out in the middle of a field, the same sense of being at home is there. For me as an artist therefore it is painting as much as place which is the Coming Home.
40
Coming Home
84. Detail from Rite of Spring acrylic on board 3ft x 3ft
85. View from East End Ampleforth acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Lesley Seeger
Lesley Seeger Paintings 2006 - 2016
41
42
Coming Home
Paintings from 2006
Blue Tree acrylic on canvas 1ftx1ft
Fecundity acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Floribunda mixed media 2ft x 2ft
Flowers acrylic on canvas 5ft x 5ft
Garden Thoughts acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Coming Home acrylic on canvas 5ft x 5ft
Hot Love acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Lost Lands mixed media 2ft x 2ft
Shamans Garden acrylic on canvas 5ft x5ft
Sri Lankan Garden acrylic on canvas 5ft x 5ft
Studley Roger mixed media 2ft x 2ft
The Journey acrylic on canvas 1ft x 1 ft
43
Paintings from 2007
Paintings from 2007
Ampleforth Woods acrylic on canvas 1ft x 1ft
An English Imagination acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Blue Love acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Icelandic Dream oil on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Lemon Land oil on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Snow Patrol acrylic on canvas 4ft x 4ft
Spanish Night acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
The Queen’s Garden Party acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Floating Seeds acrylic on canvas 1ft x1ft
Living Near You oil on canvas 3ft x 3f
Near Ampleforth acrylic on canvas 2ft x 2ft
Tarn acrylic on canvas 1ft x 1ft
44
Coming Home
Paintings from 2009
Annabelle’s Garden acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Birthday Bouquet acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Roses are Red acrylic on canvas 2ft x 2ft
Summer Bouquet oil on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Sri Lankan Evening acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Faerie Glen oil on canvas 2ft x 2ft
Hot Stuff acrylic on canvas 2ft x 2ft
Ideal Homes acrylic on canvas 2ft x 2ft
Wild Thing acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ftjpg
Lime Zest acrylic on canvas 2ft x 2ft
Mad Hatter’s Tea Party acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Jungle-Wungle acrylic on canvas 2ft x 2ft
45
Paintings from 2010
Paintings from 2010
African Dream acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Birds and Flowers acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Cherry Island acrylic on canvas 2ft x 2ft
Coming into Laka acrylic on canvas 2ft x 2ft
Coming into Harbour acrylic on canvas 2ft x 2ft
Letters Home acrylic on canvas 2ft x 2ft
Mad Hatter’s Garden acrylic on on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Party Time acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Sailing in the Ionian acrylic on canvas 1ft x 1ft
Sailing acrylic on canvas 2ft x 2ft
Stormy Day in the Ionian acrylic on canvas 2ft x 2ft
Tutti Fruiti oil on canvas 3ft x 3ft
46
Coming Home
Paintings from 2011
Cumbria acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Flower Power acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Galicia in the Spring acrylic on canvas 2ft x 2ft
Galicia in the Rain acrylic on canvas 2ft x 2ft
Galicia acrylic on canvas 2ft x 2ft
Inflorescence acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
New Life acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Tea in the Afternoon acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
The Secret Door mixed media 2ft x 2ft
Ullswater acrylic on canvas 2ft x 2ft
White Wedding ii acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Windy Day near Ampleforth acrylic on canvas 2ft x 2ft
47
Paintings from 2013
Paintings from 2013
Birds and Flowers acrylic on canvas 37in x 37in
The Gift acrylic on canvas 37in x 37in
Towards the Wolds acrylic on canvas 1ft x 1ft
Water Flowers acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Wedding Bouquet acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Wedding Field in Spring acrylic on canvas 21in x 21in
White Wedding ii acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Woodland Dream acrylic on canvas 4ft x 4ft
Yellow Bowl with Damasc Roses - acrylic on canvas 37in x 37in
Towards Westow acrylic on canvas 4ft x 4ft
Free Range acrylic on canvas 19in x 19in
Snowbirds acrylic on canvas 19in x 19in
48
Coming Home
Paintings from 2014
Chop Gate Moor i acrylic on canvas 37in x 37
Chop Gate Moor ii acrylic on canvas 37in x 37
Fields of Barley acrylic on canvas 37in x 37
Funky Flowers acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Hogweeds acrylic on canvas 21in x 21in
Passion Flowers acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Sri Lanka Revisited mixed media 37in x 37in
The Cornfield acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
The Water Meadow acrylic on canvas 2ft x 2ft
The Wedding Field acrylic on canvas 4ft x 4ft
The Wedding Field in Spring acrylic on canvas 1ft x 1ft
Towards Crambeck acrylic on canvas 2ft x 2ft
49
Paintings from 2015
Paintings from 2015
Willing the Birds Back Home acrylic on canvas 49in x 49in
Beyond the Fort Field acrylic on board 19in x 19in
Bridal Garden mixed media 21in x 21in
Where the Buzzards Nest acrylic on board 19in x 19in
Waning Moon acrylic on canvas 12in x 8in
Helmsley Walled Garden Revisited mixed media - 21in x 21in
Hutton Bank acrylic on board 19in x 19in
Rakes Lane acrylic on board 19in x 19in
The Garden of Sarah China acrylic on board 19in x 19in
Towards Philips House acrylic on board 19in x 19in
Towards the Cornfield acrylic on board 19in x 19in
Towards the Wolds acrylic on board 19in x 19in
50
Coming Home
Paintings from 2016
Blue Bowl with Flowers acrylic on board 3ft x 3ft
Castle Howard acrylic on board 2ft x 2ft
Kirkbymoorside Quaker Meeting House acrylic on board - 19in x 19in
Pablo with the Needle in the Yorkshire Arboretum acrylic on board - 19in x 19in
Pablo in the Arboretum acrylic on board 19in x 19in
Rite of Spring acrylic on board 3ft x 3ft
Bamburgh Beach acrylic on board 19in x 19in
Sunrise at Huttons Ambo acrylic on board 19in x 19in
The Bird’s Nest - Harlow Carr acrylic on board - 19in x 19in
The Wedding Field Revisited ii acrylic on canvas - 3ft x 3ft
Carmire Gate - Castle Howard acrylic on board - 19in x 19in
View from East End Ampleforth acrylic on canvas - 3ft x 3ft
51
Paintings from 2016
Willing the Birds Back Home ii acrylic on canvas - 3ft x 3ft
Alnwick Castle Northumberland acrylic on board - 19in x 19in
Burton Agnes Hall - The Gatehouse acrylic on board, 2ft x 2ft
Dog Rose near Kelso mixed media 19in x 19in
Winter Sun Towards Westow acrylic on board 19in x 19in
Bamburgh Castle from over the Fields mixed media - 2ft x 2ft
Castle Howard ii acrylic on board 2ft x 2ft
Filey from the Brigg acrylic on board 3ft x 3ft
Winter Flowers acrylic on board 19in x 19in
The Beach House acrylic on canvas 3ft x 3ft
Poppies acrylic on board 2ft x 2ft
Blue Bowl with Yellow Birds and Flowers acrylic on board - 3ft x 3ft
52
Coming Home