MARY NEWCOMBE Nature's Canvas Exhibition 24/07/2021

Whilst visiting another exhibition recently I noticed Mary Newcombe was exhibiting and decided to return. Newcombe's work is full of abstraction, light, and the natural world, so Compton Verney's grounds are the perfect setting for her work.

Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park is such a breathtaking place full of the beauty and all nature has to offer. Whist walking to the exhibition I took some photos in the grounds.

There were four rooms of exhibits, and they all showed the artists love of nature and that pausing to observe, really look at the world in detail.

A video presentation showcased the seasons, light and small insignificant insects, breezes, sunlit plants, or plants dripping from rainfall. The video was full of the joys of Spring, the cold crisp Winter, colourful bright, vivid Summer and the earthiness of Autumn. Her sketches were full of notes and observations, rather like The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard close examinations of the space. Her interest, passion and connection are evident in her work. Some of her work is too twee for me, and I wasn't a fan of the 'country scape/life compositions', but the techniques used with dilute layering and washes were stunning.

ComptonVerneys website says;

'A self-taught artist who settled in rural East Anglia, Newcomb developed a unique visual language and poetic vision closely aligned with her writing'.

I am learning that art is a visual language connected to or influenced by poems or text/notes.

Figures 1 and 2

Birds scattering around a tree

Mary Newcombe Oil on canvas.

Written above many of her works, there are extracts of her diary entries, and they are fragments of texts visually documented. Birds scattering around a tree was one of my favourites of all her works because it was luminous. The muted pastel underpainting and layered glow called you and drew you in. The traces of bird wing and strokes and flashes of feathers are indeed scattered in the misty environment. As the text states, a song in paint states, from a grey day, the beauty and misty intrigue of nature is transformed and visually transformed in an abstract way, but it works. It sings.

Newcombe was a trained scientist, and again I find a connection between science and art. Below is her study of insects. Who doesn't love bees and ladybirds after all?

Figure 3

'To Pause and Look'

Another of my favourites is this delicate and sensitive composition of Wildflowers will soften the stiffest lady (below). There is such a softness to this work, and the colour was, at first hand, a little more vibrant. What I adore about the piece is how the flowers are central to the work. They dance over the path and canvas, swaying as if in the breeze of a sunlit walk. As the title suggests by her outstretched hand reaching, the lady is straight and stiff. The beauty of nature draws her and makes her stop and pause, soften and melt into the natural scene.

The colour palette says Summer to me the greens and pastel pinks, highlighted with that warm yellow—layers of soft markings built up, blended and smeared. The foreground markings are straight, visible, diluted strokes of pale lime greens, giving the impression of grass. The deeper vegetation is dappled and evokes movement on the right-hand side. The path erased to accommodate the lady and balance the composition.

More of my observations were of the lady's skirt. Does the wind gently blow it?

Does that dark green shadow behind the lady take the viewer's eye back, creating depth of field?

Without seeing the title, would we be as captivated by the meaning of this piece?

Figure 4 Wildflowers will soften the stiffest lady

Mary Newcombe Oil on board.

Figure 5

Mary Newcombe's diary.

Figure 6

Kew -The delicate Jungle oil on canvas.

With the painting Kew, Newcombe's pallette of the marriage of pinks and greens are interrupted by the stark lines of black that represent the path leading you into the jungle. The visible strokes of the foreground earth, in deep umbers, remind me of Eleanor Moreton's mark-making with dilution and direction. Again, the shapes of the plants are ambiguous. Still, we do gain a feel of the palm leaves and spikes of the foliage.I enjoy the erasure of the arched glass structure lines at the top of the piece and feel the variation of size and texture makes this composition interesting.

Figure 7

Mary Newcombe (left)

The Old Evening Walk Oil on board 1971

L.S.Lowry (right)

Mountain Lake 1943 Oil on composition board

Newcombe admired L.S Lowry, and here her inspiration for colour palette and composition is put into practice. I prefer Newcombe's because it has more of a dreamy feeling, almost a memory of the walk and her mottled technique has a sensitive approach.

What have I learnt from Mary Newcombe?

Small sketches and text are essential to remember scenes, and paintings can start from the most miniature doodle or piece of text. Visual images also develop from text, build on and apply emotion with colour hues, and use variation to evoke a sense of place. Pause and look at the smallest detail and build on that. Details matter and your passion and enthusiasm to communicate these details in the paint will make your art sing.

I enjoy seeing art first hand, and I have missed the experience in Lockdown.

References.

Mary Newcomb: Nature's Canvas (2020) At: https://www.comptonverney.org.uk/thing-to-do/mary-newcomb-natures-canvas/ (Accessed 25/07/2021).

All photographs and figures 1-7 - Elliott, M.Birds scattering around a tree, Pause and Look, Wildflowers will soften the stiffest lady , Mary Newcombes Diary, Kew, The Old Evening Walk Mary Newcombe , Mountain Lake LS Lowry Photographs) in possession of the author; Banbury.