Lynne Wixon - English Coastal Tour

Blyth

2011-04-09T09:02:00.000-07:00

Blyth I found to be the most surprising and amazing place. It was obvious that the town had once been a hub of coastal activity and in recent times had suffered from the decline of industry. It was the beginning of the part of the coast that had a sad story to tell.

Having said that I can happily say that Blyth has come through it's trials to triumph as a sea side resort. I can only imagine how much money and effort has been lavished on the place. Admittedly the sun was blazing and people were in best holiday mood. From here on in it was to take me a lot longer to walk, factoring in the chats to be had along the beach.

The first thing to hit you about Blyth beach are the long line of wind turbines stretching out along the break water towards the open sea. Contrasting with these beautiful white air slicing monsters, a little lighthouse punctuates the end of the line with a few hardy fisher men dangling off the end.

The coastline is striped with peers and breakwaters. Following the beach round to the north side and into the estuary the quayside has been repaired and transformed. A new business park lines the beginning of the river edged by a smart wooden walk way. Along the path you are serenaded by motion triggered sound sculptures playing ghostly voices telling personal stories from the local past.

2011-04-05T07:36:00.000-07:00

I came across this lighthouse on a very cold, crisp sunny day in February 2010.

Sea houses is a lovely little market sea side town in Northumberland. I left Holy Island in a blizzard and as I approached Sea Houses the sun came out and illuminated this gem of a building making it glowed at the end of the jetty.

I am posting a new picture each day until I catch up with myself! This is just over a year ago when I went to Sea Houses.

Bamburgh

2011-04-04T09:34:00.001-07:00

Bamburgh Beach

Next stop Bamburgh just for the dog to have a run but as I peeped over the top of the sand dunes it was one of those moments that takes your breath away. The sky had cleared and the cold February light bounced off the completely flat sand and spread in all directions, absolutely amazing.

the first thing to greet me were the dice water breaks, transformed from lumps of concrete into pieces of sculpture by some ones playful ingenuity, painting them red with white dots.

The lighthouse is fairly uninteresting in shape and form but sits so stoically up there, beaming down over the rocks I knew I had a painting.

The reason for the tour

2010-04-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

I am touring the English coastline from Northumberland to Cumbria via Cornwall.

I was originally looking for images for my paintings along the English coastline when it was suggested to me to create a journey.

I love journeys and the idea took hold so I have started in Berwick upon Tweed, which is the most northern English town on the east side of the country.

I have made a short statement about my work

'My paintings are representations of manmade structures found along the shoreline.

I focus on the makeup of the structure or building and its relationship to the land. The more eclectic the fabric the better.

I collect information by drawing and taking photographs. This becomes a starting point to help me develop colour and structure within the painting. The photographs are not necessarily used directly, more as a formal device helping me construct the paintings.

The new UK paintings are a progression of work produced from the Northern San Francisco shore line. I was interested in the provisional nature and weathered surfaces of the beach houses combined with the unique light of the ocean.

My aim is to tour the entire English Coastline over the next three years to find relevant structures and environments. The landscape in the paintings are a setting for the structures and as such offer clues as to their purpose. I have started in Northumberland where the austere landscape and wilderness of the beaches offered up several structures. The refuge hut on the causeway to Holy Island seems to emerge from the sea or look as if it has landed adding to the isolation and vulnerability you feel when walking along it.

I am at present making my way down through North and South Shields, North and east Yorkshire and hopefully this year the coast of East Anglia.'