Two Cornish paintings, two very different styles
Two very different paintings, both painted by me, both of Cornwall, using the same Jo Sonja's acrylic paints and the same fundamental artistic knowledge.
St Michael's Mount and Mawgan Porth. Two places I absolutely love, each filled with wonderful memories. One takes me back to my childhood, the other to my adult life.
One is a delicate, detailed and architectural interpretation of St Michael's Mount. The other captures the colour, atmosphere, light and movement of the sea at Mawgan Porth.
At first glance, you might not imagine they were created by the same artist!
Discovering different ways of seeing
I don't think many people realise how many different styles I enjoy working in.
Some artists find enormous satisfaction in developing and refining their own distinctive style, and that's a wonderful thing. Personally, I also love exploring different approaches.
Challenging myself is exciting and rewarding. It encourages me to look differently, experiment with possibilities and discover ideas I might otherwise have missed.
There is no single right way to express what we see. That individuality is part of what makes art so fascinating.
The grammar, spelling and punctuation of art
I've always thought of the fundamentals of art as being rather like grammar, spelling and punctuation.
We all work with the same basic principles of perspective, light, colour, shape and composition. But it's how we combine them, what we choose to emphasise and what we want to communicate that makes the results so individual.
The two paintings here demonstrate that beautifully. The materials and underlying knowledge are the same, yet the intentions, decisions and visual outcomes are very different.
The more we understand, the more choices we have.
Understanding art rather than copying a style
It's a philosophy that runs through both my painting and my teaching, whether I'm working with students on the beach at Mawgan Porth in Cornwall or teaching online.
My aim isn't to teach people to paint like me. It's to help them understand the fundamental principles of art so they can explore their own ideas, make informed creative choices and develop an individual approach.
For me, the excitement of painting isn't limited to the finished artwork. It's in exploring possibilities, seeing familiar subjects differently and discovering what happens when knowledge and imagination come together.
And even after many years of painting and teaching, there's always something new to discover.
Both of these original Cornish artworks are also available as prints. You can explore my artwork and art tuition at Visual Awareness.
