Oxford Art Prize

Posted on 30 August, 2015 by Susan Isaac

Beside Castle Mound, 6 June 2015

Ascending the Castle Mound

I was in Oxford in June taking part in the Oxford Art Prize – an en plein air competition, where I prepared two works. The exhibition is now on and continues to 13 September at the O3 Gallery and Oxford Town Hall. Really pleased that my painting ‘Ascending the Castle Mound’ (showing the library tower of Nuffield College beyond) won the ‘1851 prize’.

 

The Castle Mound & library tower of Nuffield College

One of my paintings as part of the exhibition at the O3 Gallery

 

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St John’s College from Trinity Street, Cambridge

Posted on 17 June, 2015 by Susan Isaac

Susan Isaac - St Johns College from Trinity Street, Cambridge I was delighted to learn earlier this month that my painting of Trinity Street, Cambridge had won a Winsor & Newton Award. When I chose the viewpoint for this work, I was partly drawn to the architectural majesty of St John’s College with its castellated Tudor Great Gate, contrasting with stone buildings to left and right. However, my eye was particularly caught by the all-pervading bicycles corralled in groups along the broad pavement ahead of me, with the fine spokes of the bicycle wheels echoing the criss-crossing of winter branches that lace a late afternoon sky. A lowering sun sends a shaft of Indian yellow into the centre of the painting, which, along with the line of the kerb helps to draw the eye in and along the curve of Trinity Street.

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Castle Park, Newark-on-Trent

Posted on 12 June, 2015 by Susan Isaac

Susan Isaac - Castle Park Newark IMG_7479 -700Tomorrow is the final day of my Newfield Galleries exhibition. In this painting of Castle Park, I love the way in which the sun filters through the piercings of the castle wall and pours through the bandstand, leaving structures in silhouette.  The light sends a trellis of shadows ahead whilst other areas of the park are warmly illuminated.

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Trent Bridge at Newark

Posted on 11 June, 2015 by Susan Isaac

Susan Isaac - Trent Bridge at NewarkThis Newark ‘portrait’ is also in the Newfield Galleries. Here, I was drawn by the light through the arches of Trent Bridge, like glowing heat at the mouth of some great furnace, and the way in which it lends the archway bricks a warm pink, contrasting with the cool blue grey of the facing stone. I was also keen to describe the fan of sunlight spreading under the bridge through the near opening and mingling with the eddies of water as they course on their way.

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Newark ‘Portrait’

Posted on 10 June, 2015 by Susan Isaac

Susan Isaac - The Castle Newark-on-Trent Img_7592Here is another painting in my series of ‘portraits’ of Newark-on-Trent, this of the castle from the towpath below Trent Bridge – currently in my exhibition at the Newfield Galleries. The low afternoon sunlight in this composition made for striking striations of light and shade from the trees on the right, so that the viewer is lead toward the castle along dark rung-like bars laid over the brightly lit pathway and under an interwoven canopy of branches.

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‘Town Portraits’

Posted on 20 May, 2015 by Susan Isaac

I’m busy feverishly painting and preparing for our open studio event this weekend (23-25 May). It’s a lovely occasion for me as I really enjoy meeting visitors, friends and customers old and new. It’s good to be joined again by our guests, potter Carl Gray and woodcrafter Mark Greene. Mark’s partner, Agnes Kiemel will also be here with her hand-made felted soaps and some of the Hebridean lambs that she shepherds for the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. Finally, my daughter Elsa, fresh from her Fine Art Degree will be injecting some young blood into our line up with her work based around memory encapsulations.

Susan Isaac - Kirk Gate, Newark

Susan Isaac – Kirk Gate, Newark

At the moment my work is focused on two main strands – in both of which I am drawn to an interplay of colour and overlaying of natural and man-made patterns. The first is a series of ‘portraits’ of the town of Newark-on-Trent, which I have completed for an exhibition at the Newfield Galleries in Newark that is to run from 30 May to 13 June (with a preview on 29 May, 6-8pm). There is so much of visual interest to draw from in and around Newark and the more I study it, the more is revealed to me. A favourite view looks along Kirk Gate towards St Mary’s Church, in this case in the afterglow of a sunny late afternoon. In this light, brick buildings radiate orange and salmon pinks whilst grey stone paving slabs respond to the warmth of the brickwork and the cooler blues of the sky, resulting in almost iridescent pastel shades.

Susan Isaac - Harbour Beach, St Ives

Susan Isaac – Harbour Beach, St Ives

I find a similar visual richness in the second strand of my work – the historic fishing ports of Cornwall – an ongoing source of inspiration to me. In the painting shown here, the orange boat at rest on St Ives’ Harbour Beach is ablaze – its striking colour enhanced by so much complimentary blue. This strong focal point was the initial draw for the painting, but as I worked on it I became increasingly intrigued by the competing forms of the wave patterning of the sand, the shadows cast and the interrupted reflections of the boat.

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Magdalen Bridge, Oxford

Posted on 14 March, 2015 by Susan Isaac
Susan Isaac - Magdalen Bridge, Oxford

Susan Isaac – Magdalen Bridge, Oxford

The first time I visited Oxford, I came into the city across the Magdalen Bridge. It felt like a very significant conduit leading into another world, with the Magdalen Tower beckoning from just beyond. My attention, when I was composing the painting, was focused on the classical balustrade of the bridge. It appeared like a series of Etruscan vases processing towards the town, topped by a spreading cushion of stone made velvet green with very fine mosses like a Victorian fireside bench. The aged tree on the right seemed to be standing sentinel whilst showering the air with a  wispy lattice of branches, their delicate ephemeral nature countering the enduring mass of the bridge.

I was delighted when the painting was accepted into the Leicester & East Midlands Open 26, the exhibition running from 14 Mar to 4 May, 2015 at the Newarke Houses Museum & Gardens in Leicester – and even more so when it was awarded the Wilson Browne prize.

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The Ram at Newark on Trent

Posted on 5 February, 2015 by Susan Isaac
Susan Isaac - The Ram at Newark-on-Trent

Susan Isaac – The Ram at Newark-on-Trent

I was asked recently to create a portrait of ‘The Ram‘ at Newark-on-Trent, a former hotel that has been lovingly refurbished and re-opened as a bar and brasserie by the Derry family.  The handsome three-storied Georgian facade stands in a fine run of buildings making up the historic north-west curtilage of this beautiful market town. The Ram stands, prominently, opposite Newark Castle and the former Gilstrap Library (now a registry office). I chose a viewpoint just in front of the Gilstrap that allowed me to frame the elegantly restrained, warmly sunlit, orange-red brick facade of The Ram behind a fanfare of filigree railings and municipally solid 1880s stone gate piers.

The painting is on a large canvas at 120 cm square and on Monday I accompanied it, with an almost parental anxiousness, to its new home at The Ram, where it now hangs opposite the longest bar I have ever seen. I am glad to say it was greeted with great warmth and  I hope the painting will be enjoyed by those who drop by to drink or dine.

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New Porthleven Paintings 4

Posted on 4 February, 2015 by Susan Isaac

c-Susan Isaac - Porthleven from Institute Hill IMG_7375The final Porthleven painting in this series is a view from Institute Hill. The Indian Yellow sun bounces and rebounds off natural stone and whitewash alike. The shadows of the lane take on the warm hues of the sky. Sunlight melts on the bronze skin of the two seated women, who are waiting for a third to join them. Telephone wires, like rigging on a ship, hold the Institute building at the centre of the composition.

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New Porthleven Paintings 3

Posted on 25 January, 2015 by Susan Isaac

c-Susan Isaac - The Slipway at Porthleven Harbour IMG_7381The slipway at Porthleven harbour is a favourite viewpoint. In this version, I like the way the shadow on the slipway, thrown by the railings, draws the viewer down into the harbour and out past the lazy upturned dinghys basking on the wharf and the moored boats ready with their masts and rigging. The deeply coloured baffling of the harbour walls contains and becalms an azure pool.

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