Tag Archives: Artist(s)

West Penwith Between Mousehole and Porthcurno

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West Penwith Between Mousehole and Porthcurno

Those of you who followed my recent posts about the Newlyn artists may recall that some of those who studied at the Newlyn Art School founded by Stanhope and Elizabeth Forbes went on to form a separate colony of their own at Lamorna, a few miles along the coast.

Lamorna is a small village about a 10 minute drive from Newlyn, or an hour’s walk along the coast path from Mousehole. Situated in a lovely wooded valley (especially in springtime), the bubbling stream (because that’s all it is) slowly finds its way down to the cove. The artist, Laura Knight described her first visit here in the spring of 1907  like this: “It would seem that we had suddenly entered paradise; a densely-wooded valley filled with lichen-covered trees of greenish grey, whose branches threw bluish tracery of shadow over rich tufts of grass already speckled with the yellow of early primroses and white anemones.” It seems like she was as good with a pen as she was with a paint brush.

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Originally posted 2025-03-14 10:55:37.

The Newlyn Artists – Pt 3 Stanhope and Elizabeth Forbes and Other Artists

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The Newlyn Artists - Pt 3 Stanhope and Elizabeth Forbes and Other Artists

My previous two posts about Walter Langley and Edwin Harris show how the Newlyn art colony began, but from little acorns mighty oak trees grow as they say, and today’s final post on Newlyn is about how a small group of artists blossomed into a highly acclaimed school.

Both artists were influenced by the French en plein air style, and it was on Harris’s second trip to Brittany in 1882 that he first met the Canadian artist, Elizabeth Armstrong in Pont-Aven.

Born in Ontario in 1859, Elizabeth, accompanied by her mother, moved to London to study at the South Kensington Art School, and after completing further studies in New York and Munich, sought inspiration for her work in Brittany and Holland. After returning to England, mother and daughter headed down to Newlyn where Langley and Harris had been joined by Stanhope Forbes, Frank Bramley and others, and it was Edwin Harris who introduced Elizabeth to Stanhope Forbes at Cliff Castle Cottage.

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Originally posted 2025-03-02 16:02:03.

The Newlyn Artists – Pt 2 Edwin Harris and the Birmingham Boys

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The Newlyn Artists - Pt 2 Edwin Harris and the Birmingham Boys

In Part 1, I described how Birmingham artist Walter Langley adopted Newlyn as his home with the objective of creating everyday scenes similar to the French artists who painted en plein air. Being the first notable artist to settle in the port, he is generally regarded as founder of the art colony known as the Newlyn School – but there was another contender.

Langley’s artistic career began at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA) where he became a close friend of Edwin Harris, who also decided to take his palettes down to Newlyn. Harris was born at Ladywood in 1855 and entered Birmingham School of Art at the age of 14, and apart from Walter Langley, his fellow colleagues included William John Wainright and William Breakspeare: All four of them were involved in forming the Birmingham Art Circle whose objective was to give encouragement to younger artists, but their close association also meant that the ‘Birmingham Boys’ would all end up down at Newlyn.

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Originally posted 2025-02-17 15:49:11.

The Newlyn Artists – Pt 1 Walter Langley And The Founding Of The Newlyn School

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The Newlyn Artists - Pt 1 Walter Langley And The Founding Of The Newlyn School

Cornish fishing harbours are a magnet for tourists, but Newlyn has never really been one of them. While St Ives on the opposite side of the Penwith Peninsula attracts plenty of visitors (some say too many at times), Newlyn may just get a handful drop in on their way from Penzance to Mousehole.

I don’t think it bothers the good people of Newlyn too much though because they’re more interested in trying to earn a living from the main business of fishing, and which is why you’re more likely to find a down to earth pub full of raucous fishermen drinking copious amounts of ‘Proper Job’ rather than a sophisticated wine bar occupied by ‘ladies who lunch’ sipping the odd glass of Chardonnay.

Newlyn may not have attracted as many tourists as St Ives, but it has attracted as many artists (and I’m not talking about the drinking variety now): In actual fact, artists arrived here to paint en plein air quite a while before the St Ives school was established, and if you’re interested in reading more about the art scene in St Ives you can find it in my post Have you Seen the Light?

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Originally posted 2025-02-09 09:37:31.

Abbey Park, Torre Abbey Sands and Sandyman

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Abbey Park, Torre Abbey Sands and Sandyman

Visitors to Torquay have probably come to enjoy the sea air as much as anything, and a short walk from Torre Abbey through Abbey Park will bring you to the seafront and Torre Abbey Sands.

Abbey Park lies in front of the Riviera Centre and has some low-key sporting facilities such as tennis and crazy golf if you like that sort of thing, but the gardens, with their sub-tropical plants and water features are what I like, and in particular, the Italian Garden which is a riot of colour during the summer (see featured image at top of page).

If you’re not in any rush to get the sand between your toes, you might also want to check out the One World Café and Bistro which is the ideal place for doing absolutely nothing for an hour or so.

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Originally posted 2019-01-09 05:24:13.