Amy Albright – Natural Affinity

Amy Albright’s new body of work sees an array of large scale works that each offer a scene of the Cornish landscape as if it were from memory. Rather than picturesque realism this collection captures the essence and emotive response to these wondrous landscapes. Rich Prussian blue and ultramarine blend and meld across the canvas in effortless clouds of colour. Gentle glows of yellow emit from behind creating celestial bursts of contrasting tones, bright glows of hope in the distance. 

Other works feel far more expressive with visible brush marks swooping the length of the canvas as if caused by a strong gust of wind. Large white spaces, void of colour, create the sense of bright sunlight bleaching the landscape beneath. Diaphanous veils of grey and blue wash the canvas as if the view of the landscape were below a vast body of water. A fleeting impression of the landscape as the encompassing embrace of the surrounding ocean carries you effortlessly through the scene. 

 This new collection has varying palettes with warming burnt browns creating an earthy glow amongst the blues and greys. Amy’s tranquil scenes are often interspersed with delicate details that anchor the landscapes whilst the surrounding swirls of paint offer ethereal mists that envelop the land below. Dainty branches sprout amongst the dripping colours, the juxtaposition of purposeful marks with chance drips and bleeds is what makes these works so enticing. The spontaneity of the marks emulates the wildness of the Cornish landscape. 

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The water’s edge continues to be a strong theme in my work, flittering between the more abstract sense of place in ‘Beneath the surface,’ remembering times diving in an under-water world. Or a more representational view like in ‘Slant of light’ where I am loosely capturing the way the light plays across the waters edge. 

Using the oil paint in an ink like consistency I build up many layers, revealing and hiding subsequent marks. I employ various tools and methods to explore the wonderful and never ending capabilities of my favourite trusty medium of oil paint.  I would like the viewer to find more on a closer discovery, just like we do in nature, I hope my paintings draw the viewer in for a closer inspection, to celebrate the detail.

Warm light has been a focus of late, that incredible glow that fights its way through the clouds. The dramatic skies of north Cornwall where I live never seem to disappoint, I aim to capture a romantic glow, almost as though the painting itself has its own light source. Inspiration of course taken from the master of light – JMW Turner.

‘Light is therefore colour’

JMW Turner

Memories of time on the water on my paddle board continue to inform my work, in ‘Serene’ I remember a particularly peculiar light of a November day, that image has found its way to the canvas – as do some particularly strong memories.

Growing up and living in Cornwall most of my life, I have gained a real connection to the water, to the tidal changes, the moon cycle and the way it meanders from hill to shore. I am interested in the way it shapes our land in so many different ways, leaving fractal patterns in the sand and the way it dances on the surface of the sea. I hope this series show my natural affinity and love for the landscape from remembered times travelling and of course places close to my heart and home.

‘He to whom Nature

Begins to reveal

her open secret

will feel an irresistible yearning

for her most worthy interpreter,

Art’

Goethe