RIGHT
Richard Adams,
Middlemoor, chalk
pastel, 50x60cm
Fresh
Paint
Inspiring new artworks, straight off the easel
Richard Adams
The work of Richard Adams sits somewhere between reality
and fantasy. When asked about the inspirations that led to
Middlemoor, he mentions themes as diverse as May Day,
the Gaelic festival of Beltane and even the 1960s film The
Wicker Man. Indeed, with its traditionally dressed subjects
and strangely mystical feel, it’s hard to gauge the scene
temporally, but the spirit of place is unmistakeable.
In the lead up to his forthcoming Hybrid Gallery show,
Rhyme or Reason, Richard was compelled to create a
scene that captured the feel of the countryside surrounding
the Devonshire venue. “I tend to create pieces linked to a
certain place when I know I’m going to be exhibiting there,”
he says. “It’s great to go off on a massive tangent with your
art sometimes but you have to consider your buying
audience. To make money as an artist you’re asking people
to spend a lot, so you have to consider what they want.”
Despite the variation in texture and detail seen across
the painting, Middlemoor was created entirely using
pastels. “All my pieces are created using chalk pastels, but
within a painting, the medium is applied in different ways,”
he explains. “For example, in Middlemoor, the leaves and
flowers were painted, but I created the faces using my
fingers and the chalk pastels themselves.”
While his handiwork demonstrates Richard’s strong
grasp of the medium, the potential for ruin with unfixed
pigments has shaped the way he approaches a painting.
He begins at the top, first putting in the sky with some key
background details, such as the houses and moor seen
in Middlemoor. He’ll then work his way toward the front,
taking care not to blur any of the existing detail as he goes.
Fortunately, if errors do occur, years of honing his
practice has taught him a quick fix for correcting mistakes.
“The great thing with pastel is you can rub out whole areas
and completely change the look of the picture,” he says.
“Pastel is a dry medium. Even when combined with water
to use as paint, it dries quickly which is great. You might
be left with a bit of a ghost from what you’ve done already,
but that can be helpful when overpainting.”
Richard Adams: Rhyme or Reason runs from 14 September to
12 October at Hybrid Gallery, Devon. http://www.hybrid-devon.co.ukRICHARD’s
toptiP“I use Winsor &Newton
fixative to set the pastel,
then I apply PVA varnish,
watered down to the
consistency of milk,
using a soft brush”