Having barely slept a wink until I was Forty . . . ( joke . . . but not half as much of one as you might think ! ) I am also and have always been deeply affected by the world at night . I have spent an unusually large proportion of my life out in the world at night . . . and have always since my early teens relished travelling on foot at night when the moon allows . . . a good moon can cast the world in a wonderful vivid half light that reduces the landscape to a limited palette of blacks , sepias , violets , blues and greys . . . and any sense of detail whether ‘ soft ’ or ‘ sharp ’ is rendered for the most part ‘ unseen ’ .

 

There is an overpowering sense of an entirely different world and a state of raised awareness at night that I find exhilarating . . . a familiar sight can be re-cast with a whole new set of airs , feelings and emotions that simply do not occur to you in the light of day . . . I have several times nearly shit myself lifeless at the nocturnal motions and reverberating sounds of what later presented itself merely as a wandering sheep , badger , deer or stag , feral dog, wild boar or hill pony . I have also frequently found myself wandering in what I thought were ‘ very familiar ’ locations but have somehow lost my way . . .  found spots , features or paths , sheeptracks and routes that I have never stumbled across or at least ‘ noticed ’ stumbling across in daylight ! The dark plays tricks . . . on eyes , mind and spirit . . . and all the senses , innately and inherently open to the possibility of threat or danger in that darkness . . . in the ‘ unseen ’ . . .  are most alive at night .

 

So whilst to most the idea of sketching by torch light may seem a tad unhinged , the world is almost certainly a very different place at night , and one with which I have always had a close relationship with . . . it seems to me one infinitely worthy of some attempt to portray it !

 

The pure fascination and wonder of artistic expression in ‘ all ’ its formats is surely that we , as human beings , are called upon and driven by an overpowering need to create . To invent , or tell , or simply to record stories , information and objects . . .  to manipulate and render sounds and matter into formations  , to make shapes and forms out of all known materials and elements  . . . simply . . . to howl and shout and serenade , to recount by firelight our tracking of the deer , to hit animal skins with sticks and to daub on cave walls with ochre and berry juice  . . . I believe every damn one of us is an ‘ artist ’ . . . and the world at night , perhaps devoid of the distractions and bustle of daylight . . . certainly makes me want to start chucking some ink around !

 

These Original paintings are created using various inks , pigments , solutions , charcoal , tannin , soot , found media and refined beeswax . The Originals are generally framed to my usual standard in Solid Oak . They are also generally available as ‘ Mounted Only ’ upon special request for those whose personal framing tastes may differ completely from my own ( excluding Boxframes for obvious reasons ) . Their individual particulars do vary according to each piece so please do feel most welcome to ask any questions you may have .

 

For any other enquiries please dont hesitate to contact me on info@barrymartinandrews.com