New painting and L.S. Lowry

“You don’t need brains to be a painter, just feelings”. L.S. Lowry

I’ve long admired L.S. Lowry’s paintings. He is widely known for his mill scenes and industrial landscapes. However, later on in his career Lowry turned his attention to vast empty landscapes, including desolate views of lakes and seascapes. It’s these paintings and drawings which particularly intrigue me and I think you can see his influence coming through in my latest painting of Craster Harbour, which I visited between Christmas and New Year last year.

I’m drawn to painters who use a limited palette. “I am a simple man,” Lowry said. “I use simple materials: Ivory Black, Vermilion, Prussian Blue, Yellow Ochre, Flake White and no medium.”

We also share a connection with the north east. I was born in South Shields and Lowry loved to visit the area and paint seascapes at South Shields and Sunderland. Lowry frequently stayed for long periods of time at the Seaburn Hotel in Sunderland, which he became deeply attached to. He always stayed in the same room in the hotel, which looked straight out at the empty expanse of the North Sea (see painting below).

He said: “I’m particularly fond of watching large ships coming in to the harbour, or being brought down river by tugs. I love the Tyne for that reason. It’s a wonderful river”.

I’m also an admirer of his paintings of South Wales, where I lived and studied in the 1990s.