On a grey, mizzly, October morning, I had the privilege of visiting Hazel Ashe, one of our newest represented artists, at Kynance Cove on the Lizard Peninsula, where I watched her bring the dramatic landscape to life through her plein-air sketches.
Hazel met me in the empty carpark and, with a knowing sense of direction rooted in her familiarity with the area, guided me down the coastal path. We passed a field of cows and perched on a cliff overlooking the jagged rocks that make Kynance so unmistakable. Settling in, Hazel laid out a plastic sheet to sit on, unpacked her materials from her satchel, and filled her water pot from a nearby puddle. The time had come for what would be a very enjoyable first-hand insight into the creation process behind Hazel’s plein-air charcoal sketches, as well as an informative chat, giving me a deeper understanding of her artistic journey and the inspirations behind her breathtaking depictions of the Cornish coast.
Hazel’s journey as an artist seems almost inevitable. As a child, she was filing sketchbooks in the playground, a passion that would lead her to pursue formal art studies first at Truro College and then at UWIC, where she earned her BA Hons in Fine Art. Since her gallery debut with us in June, Hazel has become a favourite, with each new collection eagerly anticipated and warmly received. Hazel tells me she was fortunate to have always known her path; being an artist was the only career she ever dreamed of, and with her family’s support, she has followed her passion wholeheartedly.
Born and raised in Cornwall, with roots tracing back over five generations, Hazel has a strong sense of connection to her homeland and an enduring love for its natural world. Hazel often visits Kynance to sketch after dropping her children off at school. As a mother of six, Hazel explains that she usually has only ‘a moment here, a moment there’ to devote to her art, but with her youngest now at pre-school, she has a few precious hours in the morning to sketch on location.
Though the day is damp and windy, Hazel finds such conditions ideal for capturing Kynance’s rugged beauty. She begins with a charcoal sketch, setting out draft paper, loose powder, and a brush, stating how she almost ‘paints’ the charcoal onto the paper. Undeterred by the wind scattering specs of charcoal and the emergence of rain spots, Hazel shares how the quick, impactful nature of charcoal allows her to feel less precious and more playful with her work.
Always seeking a new challenge, Hazel uses acetone to lift the charcoal and compressed charcoal to add depth, before introducing a jelly plate. Hazel has been experimenting with jelly to stabilise the charcoal, preserving specs of dirt that would have otherwise blown away, capturing even the tiniest details. Hazel then gives the plate a rub, layers it with white acrylic paint, and presses it onto another sheet to create a smooth surface to work back onto. Stepping back, I am captivated by how Hazel’s sketch so aptly captures the essence of Kynance Cove, evoking a sense of nostalgia for this iconic landscape.
Before Hazel leads me back up the path to create a quick watercolour of the cows, we sit together to discuss the techniques, routines, and inspirations that motivate her renowned oil paintings of the Cornish coastline. Hazel explains to me that she is interested in realism; she wants her work to be transformative and familiar, instantly recognisable yet infused with a sense of escapism, allowing nature alone to define the scene. Her favourite painting spots span the coastline, from Maenporth and Durgan to Dollar Cove, Godrevy, and Porthcorno.
When not painting on location, Hazel’s workspace is a cosy corner of her kitchen, with desks, an easel, pinned sketches, as well as her faithful four-legged companion by her side! Hazel has a classic, methodical approach to creating a painting. She begins with a detailed pencil drawing, particularly for one of her renowned wave scenes, where she ‘engineers’ the perfect wave by marrying elements from multiple stills. After sketching, Hazel tones the canvas and builds an underpainting with umber, sepia, or red oxide to establish the piece’s foundational values. Once satisfied, Hazel sets her source material aside and shifts focus to how she wants the piece to ‘feel’ by working on tone and atmosphere, moving away from photorealism toward expressive realism. During this stage, Hazel steps back to view the work from different angles, asking herself, ‘What’s bothering me?’. When she can no longer answer this question, she knows the painting is complete.
Primarily an oil painter, Hazel uses Liquin to add body and accelerate drying, giving her work its signature buttery richness. Hazel’s collection reflects a versatile colour palette, though in individual pieces, she prefers a limited set—typically ultramarine blue, burnt umber, phthalo blue, and burnt siena. To achieve the expressive, dynamic marks, Hazel alternates between brushes and palette knives, relishing how the knife places clean, unmuddied paint directly on the work, perfect for capturing fine details.
I’m eager to learn more about Hazel’s routine. Hazel paints every single day for five to six hours, often late into the night once her children are asleep. With a bustling household, Hazel reveals how there can be large gaps between even single brushstrokes, allowing her time to think before making the next mark. This thoughtful approach is so apparent in each of Hazel’s breathtaking paintings, where every brushstroke reflects intention and care. Typically, it takes Hazel a good week to complete an oil painting, with two to three pieces in progress at different stages.
When I ask about her greatest artistic challenge, Hazel explains that capturing the movement of water is ‘the trickiest beast to master’. While water appears to follow a pattern, it constantly defies its own rules, requiring intense concentration and patience to depict realistically. For Hazel, this challenge is meditative, the rhythmic quality of painting water transporting her into flow state.
Hazel shares that she feels a transition emerging in her painting style. Her approach to charcoal sketches—making a mark and then leaving it—is now informing her painting. Inspired by artists such as Sorolla, Sargent, and Schmid, and their ‘economy of marks’, Hazel is experimenting alla prima, or ‘at first attempt’, a technique that involves working wet-on-wet. This method allows her to embrace each mark and relinquish control, with the aim of being more fearless and direct in her execution. Additionally, influenced by the expansive and immersive seascapes of Ran Ortner, Hazel hopes to incorporate some larger-scale pieces to her collection in the future.
Concluding with Hazel’s motto, ‘paint or die’, she emphasises that her love for painting transcends sales or recognition—she paints purely for the joy of it. It is undeniable that this enduring passion is reflected in every single work of art Hazel creates.
Speaking with such an inspired, dedicated artist was such a joy. This is just the beginning—we can’t wait to share her Christmas collection and to see where Hazel’s extraordinary talent takes her!