Through the eyes of: Chris Insoll

THROUGH THE EYES OF...

CHRIS INSOLL

Chris Insoll trained as an accountant before following his love of art. He founded the Portscatho Art Society in April 1984, opening The Gallery Portscatho in River Street the following year. In 2000 he launched The New Gallery, an artist-run space specialising in the work of established West Country artists, most of whom also exhibit in London. Chris paints figurative and abstract work, which can be found in collections including the Royal Cornwall Museum and Falmouth Art Gallery.

Tell us about one of your favourite locations to paint, and why it inspires you... I’d choose the harbour and bay at Portscatho, which has continued to provide me with inspirational material for 40 years. It changes with every season: from a small deserted cove with old chains and outdated harbour equipment rusting into history, into a mass of visitors, boats and children, all rushing around in the pursuit of pleasure.

What do you particularly enjoy focusing upon when you paint? I often surprise myself by what I find. Most recently, after a swim at the end of a hot day, I tried to account for a mass of small children and their parents jumping off the jetty into the water. Jetty jumping is a traditional activity which continues to this day, despite the newly installed chains.

Describe the sounds, smells and feelings of your location The sounds are the shrieks of the holidaymakers. The remnants of a fishing expedition quietly rotting in a small boat contributes toward the smells, and the feeling is that of an observer, slightly detached, of the British on holiday during the gradual lifting of Covid-19 restrictions. What colours do you like to use? Colours are suggested by the subject, and I use as many as possible to paint around the subject rather than just copying a view.

What do you think about while painting en plein air? Each panel is a gambit and may well come to nothing. En plein air painting can encourage me to be too literal, and yet I need a constant supply of information from working outside in order to help me paint the much larger canvasses in my studio.

What are the challenges of working in this way? My main challenges can be broadly described as weather and visitors. For anyone working outside, the weather can be an issue. However, a clear blue sky holds little interest in comparison with clouds together with the blacks, blues and greys associated with the sort of skies which Constable painted outside, and which are so admired for both their observation and inventive composition.

Visitors contribute to the crowds in the summer months. Crowds change the landscape as beaches and harbours become a different subject, which is sometimes quite a welcome challenge as in my recent study of the jetty jumpers in Portscatho. I often enjoy painting people at their leisure. As I have got older, I have become less worried by interested parties peeking at my work - I sometimes get a sale, occasionally their sympathy.

What do you love most? I live nearby and am able to get out whenever the conditions are right for whatever I am doing with regard to my en plein air studies. At present, I’m painting from almost the same place each time I go out, and am trying to explore the graduations of light in different conditions. These studies contribute to my much larger and ambitious studio compositions. To have such a marvellous subject on my doorstep is a privilege I still appreciate after all these years. l See more of Chris Insoll’s work at the New Gallery, Portscatho TR2 5HW. Open Thursday to Saturday, 10am to 12.30pm and 2pm to 5pm, or by appointment at other times. Tel 01872 580719 Email chrisinsoll@gmail.com www.thenewgalleryportscatho.co.uk