Darren Lewis
Original Artwork in Oils and Mixed Media
Our Acquainted Coastlines – Solo Exhibition at New Kent Art Gallery, Broadstairs 19th – 24th July 2016
18th July 2016
‘Our Acquainted Coastlines’
19th – 24th July 2016
49a Albion St, Broadstairs CT10 1NE
This exhibition brings together a collection of my most recent paintings dedicated to well-known local coastlines of Thanet. Places I have known most of my life, recording and observing scenes in chosen familiar locations.
I am essentially a painter from Margate, and a painter of Margate. Over recent years my main focus has been to capture the varied light, atmosphere and climate of Thanet’s coastlines but more recently, a further resolution on depicting Margate Harbour and its surrounding areas has become a growing obsession. I want my paintings to reflect the beauty and serenity of Margate and its surrounding coastlines. I want to capture a specific atmosphere of time and place, created by observation and memory in depicting the varied light and shadow surrounding our acquainted coastlines.
Colour is important in my work, relating subtle and intense colour relationships to convey a sense of place. Location is fundamental to my working practice. It’s the coastlines I’m interested in, where sky meets sea and sea meets sand.
As a painter predominately of coastlines, I am drawn to the light and colour of the sky, the cloud formations, the shimmer of light on water, the mood and sense of place. Margate Harbour for the moment gives sufficient need to convey my senses in purely visual terms using paint. I paint the things I see around me, the things I know and feel comfortable with.