My long fascination with Ancient Roman and Renaissance painting techniques has melded serendipitously with my present life on the pagan, stubborn landmass of Sardinia, where the environment that I move in provides both my inspiration and most of the materials I need for my painting: bluish cold black of the burnt vine, the rich browns from the walnut husks, stains of teas and potions, the blackest of blacks of the cephalopod ink, and collected earths become pigments.
In July 2021 a fire raged through the forested mountainous area of Montiferru in western Sardinia; ash rained down on our town through an eerie orange haze to the drone of the aerial firefighters. Weeks later the scenery appeared as old faded tapestries. During the following winter I trekked through the charred landscapes collecting earths; 8 blacks varying in hue depending on what plants had been burnt, and which when mixed with whites became blues and mauves; and 12 earth pigments. Both the ‘Charred’ and the ‘Mercy of Metamorphosis’ series were painted using solely these Montiferru pigments.
After fire the land quickens with a new beauty; ‘fire followers’ are plants that are stimulated by the regime of recurrent fire and here in Sardinia these include wild asparagus, wild rock rose, juniper, lentisk and asphodels amongst many others. Such resilience and hope!
This new collection of work radiates out from the egg tempera panel ‘Saint Anthony Abbot Tempted by a Heap of Gold’ by 15th century Sienese painter The Master of the Osservanza and all that this painting evokes for me.
Ten percent of the artist’s profits from this show will go to ‘L’Associazione Montiferru’ for reforestation and community projects.
‘Dae su fugu a s’isperu’ (Sardo) - ‘out of the fire comes inspiration’.
Carey Mortimer, 2023
The Mercy of Metamorphosis III
buon fresco mounted on alveolam panel - 42 x 48cm
Romance
egg tempera on panel – 94 x 85cm
Coded egg tempera on gesseod cloth – 26 x 28cm
The Mercy of Metamorphosis I
buon fresco mounted on alveolam panel – 55 x 55cm
Charred II
egg tempera on gessoed cloth – 42 x 42cm
Waiting for Neptune
punic wax and egg tempera on canvas – 45 x 45cm
Numen punic wax on canvas - 90 x 90cm
The Temptation of Saint Anthony egg tempera on gessoed cloth – 52 x 56cm
Desert Flower III
botanical inks, shell gold on paper - 36 x 30cm
Umbels
egg tempera on gessoed panel - 31 x 31cm
Charred I
egg tempera on gessoed board - 32 x 32cm
Summer Past botanical ink, egg tempera on gessoed panel - 48 x 42cm
Saint Anthony Tempted by a Heap of Gold (a copy) egg tempera on gessoed panel - 45 x 45cm
Principessa egg tempera on gessoed cloth - 93 x 68cm
buon fresco - 52 x 56cm
The Gift
botanical inks on gessoed cloth - 57 x 71cm
Fire Followers I
egg tempera, bole, gold leaf on gessoed cloth - 45 x 25cm
egg tempera, bole, gold leaf on gessoed cloth - 34 x 34cm
Water I
palladium leaf, bole, on gessoed panel - 30 x 27cm
Water II
palladium leaf, bole, on gessoed panel - 30 x 27cm
Precious Cargo I egg tempera, shell gold on gessoed panel - 18 x 24cm
Precious Cargo II
mixed media on fresco - 40 x 40cm
Charred III
egg tempera on gessoed cloth - 72 x 96cm
Discovering fresco set Carey Mortimer on her path as an artist. After graduating from City and Guilds of London Art School in 1986, she studied under Italian restorer Leonetto Tintori, who introduced her to the medium of the ancients and encouraged her to unravel it.
Lime, sand, pigment, yolk . . . how to make new the alchemies of the past? Carey likes to unzip the science: fresco is painting turned to stone, egg tempera is hardening strings of protein, gold is stable and stays gold forever. First know the rules to break them. And if nature is already divine, why compete? Freed from its ordinary context, a gathered leaf / mermaid’s purse / bowl or feather can take on a different function altogether: ‘A painting is only a rearrangement of matter into another form.’ The artist as chemist of the imagination. The studio as crucible, microscope, chantry.
Past and present speak in their own ways. Alert to the languages of both, Carey blends age-old techniques and her own contemporary sensibility to create surprising visual poems. Her paintings acknowledge the difficult noise of our time, but by reminding us to see beauty they offer a healing perspective, and in doing so help restore balance.
A Dundee University MPhil, Carey has been exhibiting with the Thackeray Gallery since 1994. Her work can be found in many public, private and corporate collections worldwide, including Aviva Headquarters, London; Farleigh Hungerford Castle; Firmdale Hotels, London; and Jones Day, London and New York.
Maria de Jong.
Front & back Cover: Elicriso – fresco mounted on alveolam panel – 54 x 56cm
‘..things unknown but longed for still…’ egg tempera, silver leaf on Debola slate - 61 x 36cm
