Week 8: Torquay to Abbotsbury - Day 49

Teignmouth to Exmouth
9 miles
Word of the day: Closed

Hot and sunny today as we left Teignmouth on the first of numerous diversions - all resulting from the January storms that trashed this coastline. Dawlish and Dawlish Warren are achingly typical English seaside resorts. Complete with candy floss, arcades, mini-golf, hordes of children, dogs and larger than life characters.

A boring road walk inland to the Starcross Ferry was relieved by a pint at the Anchor overlooking Cockwood Harbour. Whilst waiting for the ferry we watched a flock of about twenty Turnstones flipping pebbles over on the foreshore. A very pleasant ferry crossing (thanks Mark & Andy) brought us to Exmouth and a night with our friends Steve & Gill Price. Not an inspiring day due to all the diversions and my inability to re-engage with the walk - hoping for better things tomorrow.

 

Week 8: Torquay to Abbotsbury - Day 48

Torquay to Teignmouth

7 miles
Word of the day: Gigs

After a long bus journey from Dartington it was great to be back on the path. However, this first section was a bit of a shock for the legs - a real roller coaster. Stopped to sketch above Babbacombe Bay just after Maidencombe.

As we approached The Ness at Shaldon our ears were assaulted by the sound of a velociraptor devouring its prey, or at least that's what it sounded like! It was a gurgling, sucking, chomping sound - like a giant toilet cistern slowly filling up. We never did find out what it was.

As we walked past the mouth of the Teign Estuary half a dozen gig crews were pulling for all they were worth and barely making headway against the incoming tide. We spent the night with our friend Ian Chamberlain (a member of the Moor Poets).

Here we go Again!

The penultimate stretch of the coast path beckons, packing and planning is underway. It took me a few hours just to find everything that had been stuffed away in the cupboard since last year. 

After such a gap in the project I feel a mixture of excitement and trepidation. I am not sure I am as fit as I was on the last two stints, but as they say "the best training for walking - is walking" 

It will be good to be back out again to reconnect with the landscape, the connection is much stronger for me when I stay out for prolonged periods of time. So with pencils sharpened, boots waxed, waterproofs packed (just in case!!) off we go ... only 140 miles left.


Week 8 Itinerary

May 16  Torquay to Teignmouth
May 17  Teignmouth to Exmouth
May 18  Exmouth to Ladram Bay
May 19  Ladram Bay to Branscombe
May 20  Branscombe to Charmouth
May 21  Charmouth to West Bay
May 22  West Bay to Abbotsbury


The images included here are: Day 41 - Greenfinches at Staddon Heights; and below, Cornish Hedgerow (on-site Monoprint, printed in the Print Bus!)

Back on the Path (Again)!

During the winter I have been finishing off the daily prints from last year's walk. 

Colours Cove (Day 38), is an impressive rock arch near Polperro.












The others shown here are: Charlestown Harbour (Day 37) and Mew Stone from Kelly's Cove (Day 47).

Preparations are now well underway for the final 140 miles of the Coast Path from Brixham to Poole. We are planning to walk the last 2 sections during May and early June. This part of the coast is new to me so it will be very interesting to see the changes from my familiar Devon landscape to the Jurassic coastline. Unfortunately some of the under-cliff section is still closed due to landslips but I hope to visit the parts that are open.

I have also been working on some small collagraphs of South Hams beaches, this one is Slapton Sands.

The Print Bus

The current Devon Guild Newsletter has an article about my new venture. I have created  a mobile print studio in our Toyota Hiace. Initial test runs have been very successful and when time allows I will run some courses. Click here for more information and a link to the article.

New Website

My website has been rebuilt and updated. It now has a shop facility where the Outline South West prints are for sale online.

Exmouth Art Group Workshop

In March I ran a one day monoprinting workshop for a lovely group of artists. Everyone went home with a good many beautiful prints. Here are a few of them.

“Landscape  to  Canvas” -  3 Workshops in June & July

There are 2 places left on 12th & 13th July. Click here for more details and to book.

Back soon with more details of the next walking stage.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year !

Since the last newsletter / blogpost I have had my knee arthroscopy. All is going well, lots of physio, walking and cycling to get my leg working again. It is quite astonishing the extent to which muscles waste if they are not used! I should be more than ready for the last stretch of the Coast Path in April.

This hiatus in the project has allowed me to reflect on what I have done so far. These reflections have ranged from wanting to re-do everything I have done so far to feeling quite smug about the whole thing. The benefit of hindsight is not always a positive thing, you can always see ways of improving your work and wishing you had done things differently. Like most printmakers I am highly critical of each print I produce and strive for perfection, but ultimately you have to trust the decisions you made at the time, enjoy the process and be content with the outcome. 

I still have a few of the South Hams prints left to make before I start on the final stretch from Brixham to Poole. I look forward to getting back into the landscape to refresh my memory as the sketches I made back in the long hot summer feel quite unfamiliar now.  But as it is home turf day trips out are nice and easy.

Thank you for your continuing interest in the project, lets hope 2014 brings us another good Spring and Summer!


Linocut “Hawthorn & Snow near Tunhill Rocks, Dartmoor”

Latest News - Autumn 2013

Exhibition at Harbour House, Kingsbridge

I had a very successful exhibition at Harbour House in September. We hung all of the daily prints on the double height end wall in the shape of the South West Peninsula. I doubt this will happen again for a while because very few galleries have such a big wall. It was amazing to see all the prints in one space - it made me realise how much work I have already done and gave a real sense of the journey.

Update on the Walk

I have been busy in the studio continuing with developing the sketches from the path. We have 140 miles to go from Brixham to Poole. This last stretch has had to be deferred as my left knee decided it didn't want to walk anymore - the arthroscopy is on 19th November! If all goes well we should be back on the path in the spring.



Other Exhibitions and Workshops

In collaboration with the Devon Guild of Craftsmen and Villages in Action, the Outline South West exhibition is visiting two villages in rural Devon (South Zeal and South Brent). In addition to the exhibition I am running one-day monoprinting workshops - here are some of the beautiful prints made at South Zeal:

The South Brent exhibition is next weekend Sat 9th - Sun 10th November. There is an exhibition launch on Saturday from 10 to 11am with coffee and cakes; the exhibition runs each day from 10am to 4pm. The venue is The Old School Centre on Totnes Road, TQ10 9BP.

Other News




I was asked by the Moor Poets group if they could use a piece of my artwork for the cover of their latest anthology of poems. We chose a detail from one of my tin mine collagraphs called Wheal Betsy. More information about the Moor Poets and the book is available here.


This month I also ran a two day collagraph workshop in the fantastic loft studio belonging to Salcombe Art Club. On day one the plates were made using mountboard as the matrix and then a wide variety of textured materials glued on and sealed with shellac. Then on day two the plates were proofed and printed onto paper using the press. It was a very productive couple of days as you can see from the montage below showing just a few of the finished prints:

Week 7 'In the Studio' & Exhibition

This summer's heat wave was just getting started as we finished week 7 - I have to say that last year's cool and damp weather actually provided better lighting conditions than all this sunshine!  I also noticed this week that my creative tank appears to be full again so I have decided to defer the rest of the walk until next spring.  I am looking forward to spending more time exploring the coast in Dorset - an area with which I am totally unfamiliar.

Meanwhile, back in the studio I have been working on some large monoprints and trying to get up to date with the daily drypoints before the exhibition in September. 

For some of the monoprints I have been using viscosity inking. This is where you use inks at different viscosities (runny and sticky) which when applied using different density rollers do not mix. This allows the application of several colours with only one pass through the press. You also get the most amazing images left on the roller which look as though you should be able to print them - but they just don't come out!

Exhibition & Open Studio

The next Outline South West exhibition is at Harbour House in Kingsbridge from 3rd to 8th September - full details here. I will be printmaking in the gallery throughout the exhibition and showing a film about the project twice a day. 

I am also opening my studio for a couple of weekends as part of Devon Open Studios (DOS): Studio open 12 - 15 and 19 - 22 September from 11am to 6pm. 
DOS brochures are widely available or you can download one here. 
I am venue 121, page 58.