It has been my great pleasure to undertake a ‘residency’ project for the Forgotten Coast Cultural Coalition in Florida. Their theme this year is ‘people’ and my brief was to make a series of works that would reflect part of the Forgotten Coast’s culture and community. I was invited to base my project on the music scene, with a particular focus on women because my paintings form part of a larger exhibition to celebrate Women’s History and the centenary of women's suffrage.

Working with musicians offered a subject that would highlight the uplifting and positive spirit of the people of the Forgotten Coast in the aftermath of hurricane Michael. The musicians I met are forward-looking, resilient characters with a unique capacity to bring their community together; giving a voice to their feelings and a reason for a gathering, whether it be in a church or a bar – where there is music it seems there is community.

My artworks are on display at the Apalachicola Centre for History, Culture and Arts from 3rd-27th March 2020.
Mark came up with the wonderful idea that we could include QR codes on the title labels to allow visitors to the exhibition to listen to the music I was hearing as I painted! I have included links to music with each of the paintings here in this blog.

Each painting reflects the nature of the musician and their feelings about their music. Throughout the project I became increasingly interested in the parallels between music and painting. There are certain words that we use to describe similar qualities in both artforms. Some of those words have found their way into painting titles such as Rhythm, Unity, Harmony, Focus and Contrast. These are words I often find myself using when I’m teaching and they all arose in discussions with the musicians. A few titles come from quotes; Carol described a wonderful “connection” when she plays with other musicians, she said “there's magic in it”. Others come from what the musicians take from their music; praise, prayer, harmony and unity were titled in this way.

All of the paintings will be on exhibition in Apalachicola until 27th March and are available to purchase from the Forgotten Coast Paint Out website.

I started the project not really knowing what to expect. Arriving in Apalachicola for my research trip in November, I found that one introduction quickly led to another and my diary was soon jam-packed with appointments to meet all kinds of talented people. Everyone was open to allowing me to paint them in rehearsal or performance, their generosity of time and spirit was overwhelming. I spent a very happy 10 days listening to wonderful sounds whilst painting beautiful people, all linked by an invisible web of musical veins running through the whole community; from a 6 year old boy learning guitar with his Dad, to a gospel choir, a folk band, a jazz songwriter and a classical violinist, the entire experience was a delight. I made sound and video recordings of all the musicians whilst I painted them and later played the recordings back in my studio as an aide memoir.

The live painting sessions resulted in a whole series of quick oil sketches on little white 9 x 12” boards. Normally I paint onto a coloured ground but these little white boards became like a sketchbook, I like the rawness of them as a record of a moment. Without time for detail I relied upon gesture and physical mannerisms to obtain a likeness of the musicians, it was a great challenge and I loved it! The ‘sketches’ are documents of the time I spent with these wonderful people and they are part of a process I'm pleased to share.

Taking my little studies back to the UK I worked in my studio over the winter. I began by painting the music itself. Playing The Krickets’ song Redbird on a loop I painted whatever shapes and colours I heard in the music, curious to see what would come out! It was interesting to note how much it demanded in my employment of the visual elements - line, shape value, colour and edges - in particular edges became very important, working in such an abstract way really required me to maximize their impact.
Returning to a more representational manner, the abstract studies influenced some of my decision making; the palette generated in the music studies informed my choice of colour for the background in “Harmony” and somehow excused me from depicting a detailed background. I wanted to use the colours I had envisioned when listening to their song to envelop them in the warmth of their voices.

The little sketches of The Krickets were made during a gig at the Bowery Station, which inspired the studio paintings ‘Harmony’ and ‘Focus’.

Meeting Lauren Spring from The Krickets with her violin at the beach in Port St Joe seemed a bit of an odd concept until she explained that she often would practice playing fiddle in her bay-side garden, so for her it seemed very natural thing. A beautiful sunset glowed behind her whilst she played and I simply couldn't resist the studio painting that emerged from that delightful evening. It is definitely the most romantic painting I've ever made and it captures Lauren’s spirit to a tee!

Carol Harris’ input was of enormous benefit to my whole project, she was one of the first people I visited and she generously put me in touch with many of the other musicians in the project. But more than that, she put me in touch with the focus of my project; whilst I was painting Carol ‘lost’ in her music it became clear to me that I wanted to try to paint the relationship between the musician and their music.

I’m curious about the way artists and musicians get into a ‘flow’ at certain times in their practice.  I witnessed this ‘state of grace’ in Martha Gherardi when she picked up her violin, I named the study “Flow” because the music just poured from her as I painted. I enjoyed it so much that I listened to the recording of her playing in my studio and made another abstract study of the sounds, this time the palette seemed bright yellow and green- I later realised I was listening to Martha playing ‘Spring’ from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons - that would explain why it sounded like bright green!

During my research trip I was delighted to be invited to paint the choir of the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Apalachicola. “Gospel sketches” was the rather hurried and nervous result of a precious hour spent in their lovely church. Another gospel singer, Jhaki Davis and her family were kind enough to let me paint at their rehearsal one evening and I took the opportunity to ask why they choose to sing the gospel and what it means to them. They told me “it’s a way to preach the Gospel, and that it stays with me for much longer if I sing it.” I wanted to depict the quietude I witnessed in the singers but also the celebration and power of their faith. The paintings “Prayer” and “Praise” emerged from these experiences.

Cat Braaton met me just before a gig and I made this quick sketch of her in rehearsal, it came out really well, we were chatting about what music meant to her when she said “Music is my balm”

In pursuit of classical music I was directed to the Trinity Episcopal Church in Apalachicola where I found Randy leading a recorder group rehearsal and then a choir practice. “Notes” was a fun depiction of warmth and sound.
‘Light’ is a tiny painting of a big space filled with light from both the window and the choir.

Whilst spending time at their gigs and chatting by the beach, it became clear that family band The Currys are all about being together - with each other and their audience!

Painting Rachel Hillman sitting on the dockside at Apalachicola composing a jazz song was an unforgettable experience. A mild autumnal evening, friendly people wandering by and chatting with us, soft colours in the clouds reflecting in the river and Rachel’s lovely voice drifting across the water- it was pretty idyllic! She was really interested in the birds, I noticed every time they passed by, she stopped playing to watch them, so it soon became clear that the birds were going to feature in the painting too!

I’d like to say a huge thank you to the Forgotten Coast Cultural Coalition for inviting me to be part of their residency scheme. And of course I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to all the wonderful musicians who gave their time and allowed me to share their process. I have truly loved every minute of it!
All of the paintings will be on exhibition in Apalachicola until 27th March and are available to purchase from the Forgotten Coast Paint Out website