“A new season had crept into me, a softer season of acceptance. Burnt in by the sun, driven in by the storms. I could feel the sky, the earth, the water and revel in being part of the elements without a chasm of pain opening at the thought of the loss of our place within it all. I was a part of the whole. I didn’t need to own a patch of land to make that so. I could stand in the wind and I was the wind, the rain, the sea; it was all me, and I was nothing within it. The core of me wasn’t lost. Translucent, elusive, but there and growing stronger with every headland.”
Raynor Winn, ‘The Salt Path’
Everyone who is lucky enough to call Cornwall home and those who visit this unique far south westerly part of the country, all have their favourite walk down to the sea.
That special walk where you follow the stream through bluebell woods or past wind blown hawthorn. Where you hop over the stile or cross the wooden bridge, where the stream widens and flows over boulders. Past the rockpool big enough to swim in, where you once saw that chough, or that seal, where your feet know the way; places that are indelible on our memory. Where we played as children, where we explored, where we bathed in the sun, where we picnicked, where we looked for cowries, we shared a sundowner, or a pasty, the place where hundreds and thousands of people walk, but it still feels as though you always have it just to yourself.
Our ties that bind us to this special place, that make us tread the same paths again and again, never tiring of the same sights and sounds as we walk the coast path. Walks that start on headlands with the sea in the distance until your boots are in the sand on the beach and the sea is all you can see. These are the places that Neil Pinkett has grown up with and loved and painted time after time after time.
In this new collection of paintings, Neil shares those treasured walks and special places with us. From the first glimpse of the sea on the horizon to the scale and drama of the cliffs, down to the crash of the waves in front of us; Neil’s skill lies in taking us with him and instilling within us all, those special personal memories of Cornwall that we love so much.
When you watch Neil paint, you can see the decades of his practice in every glance at the scene in front of him, in every gesture, every nuanced swipe of his brush or palette knife as he captures the changing light and weather; it all shows his innate love for his subject matter – the sea – and I don’t believe there is another artist who can convey as much emotion and capture as much evocative drama in the landscape as Neil Pinkett can.
Sarah Brittain-Mansbridge, Director, Cornwall Contemporary
order the 24 page full colour catalogue that accompanies the exhibition here
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Neil Pinkett
