A Paul Wadsworth painting hangs in our living room – a shard of sunlight leaping up from a Cornish moor, a bright streak of yellow bursting from an earthy Celtic landscape. The painting changes during the day; as the light shifts around it the image seems to dance, a bold swathe of dark green coming in and out of focus, the clouds in the sky billowing and rearranging. Sometimes I can see figures moving along the ridgeway at the point where the land meets the sky. At other times, I just see an explosion of colour.
The paintings which emerge from Paul’s time in India amplify that sense
of colour leaping from the canvas - the rich textures of verdant foliage, the
humid warmth of the air, the dripping fullness of the trees. Water is a
recurrent element, reflecting and intensifying the life which throngs through
the paintings. And just as these images are vibrant with adventure and personal
narrative, so they are peopled with figures who emerge from the landscape to
tell their own stories; working, walking, worshipping, dancing. At times the
paintings burst the confines of their own canvasses, affixed to larger boards
which allow them to continue expanding, shrines at the centre of a world which
is fruitful and multiplying.
There is nothing ‘touristy’ here; this is the work of someone who has
immersed himself in these landscapes, succumbed to them, become intoxicated by
them. They are overwhelmingly positive and life-affirming. A painting of trees
over water shimmers and shifts, the colours constantly rearranging themselves,
reflections moving as if still fluid. I think that’s what I love most about
Paul’s work – the sense that each painting is still growing, still evolving, and
still finding its own story. I could look at them for hours, days, years. I am
sure you will feel the same.
Mark Kermode
India - Stories from the Banyan tree
Ever since my early twenties I wanted to visit and explore the magical
place of Banyan trees, Temples, deities, colour, architecture, festivities,
Tigers, Monkeys and Elephants. These are just a few offerings that tell the
story of India.
For seventeen years I painted and travelled extensively in the United
Arab Emirates and Oman showing works in Dubai and Muscat but over the last 6
years my travels have taken me to the amazingly colourful India.
My first trip took me to the west coast of Goa.
For one month I spent time travelling by moped, taxis, boats and buses
exploring the amazing diversity of landscape and culture. Carrying a
sketchbook, acrylics and water colours I started to make my first impressions
of India on paper.
Multicoloured temples and white churches sit amongst the palm trees
that run alongside the rivers splitting the landscape. Everywhere you looked
would be some colour, the ladies saris, the decorated cow, the musician playing
for money or the bustling markets selling flowers.
Subsequent trips took me to the temples of Rajasthan and to the
tropical forests and tea fields of Kerala.
I try to find the power of storytelling in a painting and in India I
found it in abundance.
Over these times I have worked on many sketches and smaller location
based works. These were the beginnings and memories for paintings to come.
Once home I start work on much larger canvases with oils and the
stories begin. Each painting gradually finding its own way and revealing parts
of the personnel journeys that I intend to continue over the years to come.
Paul Wadsworth
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