The inspiration behind the artwork. Blog by Angela Blackman
I love Bamburgh, Northumberland and I love swifts, so I set about creating an artwork which celebrates both!
This is my story behind the creation of my unique artwork, created in layers.
Bamburgh, Northumberland is noted for its imposing castle on the shores to the most amazing open beach. Many people know it, and many people have visited, including me on a number of occasions.
Bamburgh is the kind of beach where you can just keep walking and not feel you’ve gone anywhere because the horizon line never seems to get closer. Of course it does, but it’s that feeling of openness with a coastal breeze and the smell of the fresh sea air that tantalises the senses. There’s always much activity along the shore as the tide ebbs and flows – surfing, dog walking, children building sandcastles and playing family games. The beach seems to always have some kind of activity whatever the weather.
For me, I love to sketch when I can. Bamburgh is an intriguing subject, with its imposing castle nestled within the sand dunes, standing magnificently dominating the scene. It’s a thrill to me every time I try to convey an image with paint, you never know what you’re going to get, the results in my experience cannot be predicted. All depends on so many aspects, the light, the composition and the mood, especially how I feel! The great thing is, when I return to the studio and look at my sketches, I’m taken right back to the mindset I had when creating them, I find it quite useful to remember what I was feeling when I was painting.
I often take reference photographs to record the moment and suspend an idea, so I can return to it later. My husband is a great support to me; he loves photography too and we often go exploring together, both loving the experience and the details discovered – but he’s more into the technical side with a keen interest in lens specification and the effects the shutter speed can have on an image. Whereas I am more focussed on the subject, the composition of the shot and story it tells, although a good understanding of the technical aspects helps me too, he’ll tell you he’s a good bag carrier!
To me, the composition creates the mood of an image, determining the emphasis of the final work. But it’s also the details that gives appeal. This is an example when seeing the castle, the angle and composition appear to emerge from the sand dunes on the horizon. It’s the extra details such as the daisies that create the visual path and add to the story of the final image.
We enjoyed a fun evening watching the surfers on Bamburgh Beach. The waves were crashing when they arrived as the sun went down. A few turned up in their camper vans, watched the waves until conditions became just right. Out they went, running across the beach, surf board under their arm, paddling out as far as thought safe to do so. A flurry of activity over quite a short space of time, as they stood up to try to ride the waves as they approached in the usual rhythm. It looked cold and certainly hard work as they were determined to make it onto the crest of the next wave, but I’m sure they returned exhilarated, full of self-achievement and ready for a hot drink!
While staying in Bamburgh we visited the Potted Lobster, in our opinion this is an absolutely stunning fish restaurant just on the edge of the village. It was our 1st visit, after seeing it featured on one of the “Hairy Bikers” cooking road trip episodes, the menu was extensive, but I couldn’t help but choose the traditional fish and chips – I can honestly say they were probably the best fish and chips I’ve ever had! Highly recommended
So now I’ve been entertained fed and watered I’m ready to get to the business of creating my feature artwork.
I wanted to paint swifts, my first task was to check out where they had been spotted within the UK especially Northumberland. An interesting Bird Spotters site is Rare Birds in Northumberland to keep an eye on activity. Then, during my research I noted that Alpine swifts had been unusually spotted at Bamburgh. This intrigued me even further and I found I just had to paint them, including them in my composition.
“Alpine Swifts visit Bamburgh” artwork Painted in layers by Angela Blackman ©
“I love swifts and Northumberland, so I created this composition to celebrate both. I was inspired to create Alpine Swifts on a backdrop of Bamburgh Castle; when researching locations for swifts in Northumberland and noted the Alpine Swifts (slightly larger than our common swifts) had been spotted early in the season near to Bamburgh. This was an unusual event and thought to be a potential result of changing weather patterns or climate change. It is hoped they will become a regular visitor or even breed in the UK in the future” AB
I used reference photographs, found online, to paint the swifts. I was interested to study their colours and markings with their distinctive light-coloured chest and dark wings. I chose images that would suit my composition to help tell the story to represent their flight into Bamburgh. I chose evening light as it looks particularly beautiful as it hits the beach and castle walls, creating shape and mood to the image.
The artwork itself depicting Swifts approaching Bamburgh Castle over the wonderful beach, I created it using a digital paint box. For those who don’t know; this is just the same as using traditional paint, in terms of mixing the colours and creating the layers to build the image to your composition, but without the mess! I debated with myself how I wanted to approach the artwork, but using a digital paint box is a skill in itself so I saw it as an opportunity to experiment with it a bit. In truth, it would have been much quicker to use traditional paints, and maybe one day I will do another artwork to compare the results!
When choosing the canvas, its proportions and size, I usually have in mind where the final artwork may be displayed. In this case the size and shape of the artwork I have created has always been aimed to feature on the wall, such as over a mantlepiece on a chimney breast or equally in an area of the home where you walk past the artwork and can appreciate the 3-dimensional aspect of it, such as an upstairs landing area or a hallway.
The final canvas is printed individually and stretched onto a box wooden frame. I wanted to express the swifts arriving as a feature of the design. I therefore chose to add an additional layer of plexiglass. This layer is individually hand painted, creating decorative raised layer depicting the Alpine swifts as they swoop over the bay. This gives a striking 3D visual effect, when combined with the background artwork, fixed into place. I hand painted the swifts onto the additional layer adding an original artwork layer, making them stand out to give an extra dimension.
Since completing the large artwork, I have also produced an art print. The art print depicts the same scene with a similar composition, but as a quality print; supplied mounted with a backing board. Although much smaller than the original I hope you agree it captures the scene, the mood and also celebrates swifts and Bamburgh as intended. See my Picture Gallery for my latest images
Thank you for reading my blog, I hope you enjoyed my ramblings and are encouraged to enjoy all of nature, places and art in your own way and also connect with what you see in my work too.
I believe images and unique pieces not only bring personality and connection to a place or a room, but also how we feel about our surroundings
Browse my Gallery Shop to view more of my artwork and hand painted glassware
Thanks for reading
Angela x
