Summer nights in the A lentejo

FROM THE ARAB WORD ‘AL-GHARB’ – MEANING THE WEST – WE HAVE ALGARVE. FROM THE EXPRESSION ‘AL É M TEJO’, MEANING ‘BEYOND THE RIVER TAGUS’, WE HAVE ALENTEJO

Words: CAROLYN KAIN

HEN THE Alentejo, the Algarve’s immediate neighbour, experiences high summer it becomes a region of extremes. The climate is fierce, the landscape is arid, the soil is thin and nature’s colours pulsate with the heat.

Expressed by English artist Richard Suckling, the temperature is pictured as a sequence of reverberating patterns, intense in their brilliance. A committed ‘plein air’ artist, he often endures soaring outside temperatures purely for the sake of his art.

Creating realistic interpretations of the scenery, he always works out of doors using soft pastels. Luxurious to handle and rich in pigment, pastels blend easily together, one colour over another. By studying colour theory and through years of experimentation, Richard can create a full chromatic range of shades. Nowadays, his artworks are almost exclusively made with the use of soft pastels.

He explains: “I love the fact that the medium succeeds in coalescing the best of both drawing and painting. Ironically, I knew I wanted to be an artist when watching a black and white television screen. I would have been about five at the time and the programme was showing Pablo Picasso working at his easel.”

Nowadays it is often Richard on the screen. He is a regular contributor to a series of instructional programmes, Art School Live – the expert when it comes to demonstrating and talking about the use

About The Artist

of pastels. Guiding students through the process of selecting a suitable coloured paper for the intended picture, he also explains the need to use the correct quality of paper that has a generous ‘tooth’. This makes the blending and graduating of different colours relatively easy to achieve.

In action, he shows how the use of pastels gives him the best of both worlds, combining the elements of drawing with painting. The edges of a pastel stick can be used to create detail but at the same time the pigmentation is so soft it is conducive to creating expressive, loose, painterly work.

Richard’s own training was at Cambridge School of Art, followed by a period in London working as an illustrator. He moved to Cornwall 25 years ago to pursue a career as a landscape artist and he now resides in Newlyn, a well-known destination for many artists.

His love of vibrant colour emanates from the paintings of post-impressionist artist Pierre Bonnard, who was seduced by the landscapes of the South of France seen beneath the summer sun. The same revolution in colour captivated Matisse when he encountered the throbbing heat of Corsica.

Much more recently, when Richard visited the Alentejo, his colour palette experienced a transformation of its own. “Landscapes like I’ve never seen or felt before,” he says. “It was a challenge to replicate the intensity of the atmosphere.”

Richard’s work is exclusively on display in Portugal at Galeria Côrte-Real in Paderne.

Where in the world inspires you because of its natural beauty?

I have driven right through Spain and Portugal all the way down to the Algarve and back several times over the years, and these road trips have always provided endless inspiration to paint. Obviously, as I live in Cornwall in the UK, my home county offers wonderful subject matter as well, but you really cannot beat sitting in the warm sunshine with guaranteed dry conditions that heading South in Europe offers the pastel artist.

Your favourite media – do you apply any special techniques?

I use soft pastel almost exclusively. I love this medium as it allows you to seamlessly combine the practices of drawing and painting into one creative process. And for me, it is all about the colour, which is so rich and velvety.

Do you ever take time out from painting, and how do you spend it?

When I am not painting, teaching or writing about soft pastels, I greatly enjoy travel and coastal path walking. In all honesty though, I usually have my pastels with me or at the very least a sketchbook. Artists are always on the lookout for new inspiration.

Workshops – do they benefit keen amateurs?

Yes, and absolute beginners, too. I teach regular pastel workshops, both live and online, and students of all abilities always amaze me with their enthusiasm and excitement for this wonderful medium. Workshops are great because you are learning new skills in an atmosphere which is challenging and great fun at the same time. What better way to improve your painting skills and make new friends?