To start Art Trek this year Adrian Beasley, Stephen Raff and Al Brown will be holding an exhibition at The Old School used by The Pilton Art Group, beside Pilton Church. This is also near to the Ladywell in Pilton, Barnstaple EX31 1QT. The evening is a preview of our work Adrian & Stephen are both photographers and myself a multimedia artist. Should be an interesting evening including Adrian’s music and you’ll be pleased to know that drinks will also be available!
An acrylic painting 690 x 380mm on Bockingford Paper. It is of the road across the Marsh in Braunton, North Devon. I particularly liked the dark summer shadows and Cow Parsley peeping through the gloom. I cycle around the Marsh and always stop here by the bridge to look out across the fields and at the swans paddling up the narrow irrigation drains. Al
Back to using my Bideford Black pigment on Bockingford paper 700 x 340mm. This time is a picture inspired from a circular walk from Watersmeet to the Blue Ball Inn at the top of Countisbury Hill. Then onto Lynmouth and back up to where we started our walk.
The Blue Ball Inn was so called because in the late 18th century it was used as a coaching stop. A blue ball used to be raised on a pole to notify the coachmen that someone was in need of passage. It has a history of haunting and highwaymen!
I have just completed four highly enjoyable days at this year’s Hatherleigh Festival and parted with a few paintings. More importantly I’ve met new people, artists and musicians. I’m hoping that the contacts I’ve made here will help further my artistic endeavours in the future. There are so many creative and enthusiastic people here you can see why the town is known as a hub of creativity. I’ve received such positive feedback about my work my confidence can only grow, so if you’ve never visited this wonderful town then do so you’re in for a great surprise. I’d just like to say thanks to Josie, Mick and Alan for your generosity. Al
I would love to spend a few days here painting and drawing the North Devon coast at Bucks Mills. I used to surf here on Christmas Day and have many happy memories of summer days here. This is a pen and ink drawing it did a few years ago with a nod towards an old art teacher of mine at Bideford Art College/North Devon College called Jimmy Paterson ARCA. He painted this very scene and I’ve seen it displayed at the Burton Gallery in Bideford. Al
A return to normality with another 36 x 36″ canvas. This acrylic is of Bedruthan Steps in Cornwall, England. I spent a rather enjoyable day here in June this year with memories of the 70s when we surfed here whilst at Art College in Redruth. I loved the dark foreboding sky approaching a warm sunlit beach, magical colours, the climb down through some rather precarious steps is worthwhile the effort. Al
A Rotring pen and ink drawing from the late 1970s penned during my art college days. This is the image on front of her 1977 album Once Upon A Time, with Giorgio_Moroder & Pete_Bellotte. I particularly liked the song Say Something Nice from this album. Donna Summer died on May 17th 2012 at her home in Naples Florida aged 63, from lung cancer. It was thought that this was as a direct result of being in New York on 9/11 but now thought to be from the smoke filled venues she performed in during her earlier career. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Summer
Recently I was having dinner with friends when I noticed a familiar image on their wall. A photograph taken by my host Adrian Beasley of Glen Etive. I recalled drawing this in pen & ink in the 1980s and decided to go in search for it. After half an hour in my attic I discovered it wrapped up with some other Cornwall College of Art work but the original has sadly got some brown foxing on it. After a little work on my laptop this is the old image renewed. I was quite into stippling with a Rotring Inkpen at this time and had to constantly throw my eyes out of focus to unify the overall tones. Quite laborious as you can imagine. I can happily say that I do not use this type of rendering any more due to my aged and decrepit eyes! Al
Another image in this WW2 photo montage series of planes flying from RAF Chivenor. This is what it may have looked like to see an Avro Anson flying low over the flood barrier heading back to RAF Chivenor, part of Coastal Command 1941.
My mother (who lived as a child in the cottage at Little Raleigh, Roborough, Barnstaple, North Devon) remembers an aircraft crashing into the wall opposite to where she lived, near to where the North Devon District Hospital now stands. Her brother Terrance visited the site the morning after and retrieved some of the clear perspex canopy. He then made rings inlaid with paste diamonds for some of the local girls in Derby. The account in now available from Robert Palmer MA, Titled The Last Flight of Avro Anson N9817. http://www.BritishMilitaryHistory.co.uk. January 15th 1940: Avro Anson 652 reg K6271. While on a night training mission, the crew was forced to attempt an emergency landing in a Barnstaple field for an unknown reason. At the time of the accident, the visibility was poor. The crew fate remains unknown. PLANE CRASH NEAR BARNSTAPLE Albert Percival Snelling 45, Pilot Killed: Engineer Rescued. MACHINE BURNT OUT: RICKS DESTROYED. The pilot lost his life and the other occupant was seriously injured when a twin engine aeroplane crashed which had for some considerable time been at Barnstaple and North Devon Aerodrome. Bureau Of Aircraft Accidents Archive.May 15th 1941: Avro Anson N9817. Crashes at Roborough, North Devon. Two pilots were killed as was an unfortunate road worker. The crash was documented as youthful exuberance. The had been performing a falling leaf manoeuvre and had sadly stalled their aircraft.August 27th 1941: A twin engine aircraft (probably an Avro Anson ) was reported “missing” in northern Cornwall, perhaps at Harland ; This plane was from Chivenor.July 4th 1958: VV362 Avro Anson, After taxiing in at RAF Chivenor, Devon, an ambulance was reversed in front of it to transfer a patient from the Anson. The pilot increased rpm to prevent oiling the plugs but the aircraft moved forward and struck the ambulance. The fuselage was twisted and the tail damaged. There were no injuries.October 17th 1960: WD451, Following an uneventful training mission from RAF St Athan, the crew mistakenly belly landed at RAF Chivenor. The aircraft slid for several yards before coming to rest and was damaged beyond repair. Both pilots were unhurt. The probable cause was thought to be that the crew mistakenly raised the landing gear on approach instead of lowering the flaps.
The image above is of Blackpool Mill Cottage at Hartland in North Devon. Images of the planes are from the Imperial War Museum Archive. The people are from Google Images of people receiving supplies during a WW2 airdrop. The cottage has been used in many films and TV dramas and is an image of mine.
https://www.hartlandpeninsula.co.uk/self-catering/blackpool-mill-cottage.html
The image above is as if you happened to be cycling around the Braunton Marsh in North Devon during the second world war. RAF Chivenor is very close to the marsh and seeing such scenes must have been common place. Original aircraft image taken from Google Images and the marsh picture is one of mine.
In July 1942 three squadrons of Bristol Beaufighters were located at RAF Chivenor in North Devon to offer protection to shipping in the Bay of Biscay and to undertake anti submarine duties. These comprised of 235, 236 & 248 Squadrons of the RAF. Wikipedia
The cockpit of a Beaufighter 252 Squadron RAF Chivenor Imperial War Museum.
A Beaufighter and personnel of 235 Squadron, October 1942. North Devon Gazette.
Al Brown Artist. 