What Makes an Artist - Julian Le Bas on painting in the landscape and by the sea, 7 March 2020
Julian Le Bas gave a gallery talk on the last day of his solo exhibition Encounters, March 15 2020
Sea and Sky
“For the last eight years or so I’ve been drawn to the sea and sky. I work fairly quickly in a way to resolve the painting as I may not come back. You get incredible colours within the rocks of the cliffs. Still, it’s hard to feel you’ve captured the scene. That’s why it’s important to take it back and look at it. ”
“I’ve started going to Peacehaven in muted, moonlight conditions. There’s a different atmosphere in the evening. I have a head torch now! I’d love to paint more in the evening…”
“When I first came to Brighton I painted the sea. The spaces can change all the time. The two Winter Seascapes are dated January ’19 and January ‘20”
Painting in the landscape
“The physical journey informs all art. I get a bus up to Ditchling Beacon (I don’t drive). You get great views of Firle Beacon and Mount Caburn from there. I feel like they are sisters. It feels new each time I go there. I walked for a few hours to find a good spot, with a sunset happening on the right. I feel a sense of freedom as the light changes. The structure is important. The surprise element is really important. One of the greatest draughtsmen was Dennis Creffield, my tutor at Brighton [Polytechnic]. Dennis told me at to stay out there painting. There is no retouching in the studios. Sometimes I come home not having started a painting.
I make a painting so I get to know and understand a place better. Take my paintings of Craven Wood: I’m understanding the architecture of the trees. There is the solidity of the cows at Devil’s Dyke and there sense of immediacy. I’ve admire the Cuyp painting in Dulwich Picture Gallery.
‘I had a feeling I wanted to get out to Chanctonbury Ring and I experienced the sunset. I’ve been painting it since the ‘80’s, before the Great Storm blew down the trees.’”
Colour
“Sometimes I’m not sure about the colour until I’m in the situation. There is an element of improvisation. I’m being bolder with colour, less tonal. There’s more emphasis on colour in my paintings and I’m more aware of colours in nature.
Working at Charleston Farmhouse on the hoarding was very freeing. ”
Charleston Farmhouse commissioned Julian to paint a vast hoarding a few years ago while the barns were converted to galleries
See current work by Julian Le Bas