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| Looking out on a brooding, wet landscape from the comfort of our tour bus. |
Ashley Jackson is not the most commercially popular or
critically hailed artist. Whereas his
contemporaries seek out bright, sunny days, he opts to paint on cold, cloudy
days between September and March. “Other
artists go for color,” he says. “It’s
atmosphere I’m after.” A casual mention
on the “Last of the Summer Wine” tour led us to his studio in Holmfirth,
England. There we received a brochure
showing some of his favorite, nearby painting sites. We followed the suggested route, and enjoyed
our day walking the environs of this adorable town tucked in the hills of
southern Yorkshire. By all rights, that
should have been the end of our interest in Ashley Jackson.
Instead, my wife opted to follow him on Twitter, and she
occasionally emails me links to stories about him. One such story, for which I’ve provided the
link at the bottom of this post, resonated so strongly with me that it inspired
this entry. Our growing interest in Ashley
Jackson and his work cannot be logically explained. Yet something keeps drawing us back to him,
making us want to know more, and enjoying what we learn.
I think one of the reasons we appreciate Ashley Jackson is
because he has stayed true to his initial vision. Early in his career, people urged him to adopt
a more conventional approach. Yet he has
stuck with his distinctive style and unique color palette. He finds worth in capturing weather most of
us would describe as terrible. On days
when we’re tucked up inside our houses or workplaces, with the heaters switched
on, and grateful for the walls and roofs that protect us from the elements,
he’s painting out on the moors somewhere.
On days most of us would find depressing, he’s working hard to
immortalize the angry clouds, the rain pummeling houses or barns, and the
windswept grasses and heather.
Conventional wisdom for watercolor artists says to keep your
paintings small. Yet instead of going
with small canvases, such as seven by twelve inches, his landscapes extend much
larger, some as big as thirty-six by forty-eight. Working at such sizes requires an extraordinary
emphasis on the details of his subjects.
In this way, he again goes against popular demand and critical
expectations. But that doesn’t bother
him. He’s followed his muse all his
life. He may have had to forego arts
council grants, and brave the scorn of the intellectuals in England’s arts
establishment, but an audience has gradually coalesced around his work, and has
allowed him to continue following his muse.
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| A view captured on one of our walks around Holmfirth. |
Perhaps what piqued our curiosity about the man, and feeds
our growing interest in his work, is how he tries to capture the very soul of
the land he loves. Anyone can paint
cheerful scenes of bright, sunny days, but weather enhances a landscape just
like clothing and scars add reality to a fictional character. And he appears to think in literary terms,
likening his work to that of the Bronte sisters, three authors whose characters
and stories attract readers to visit those Yorkshire villages where the three
sisters wrote and lived. The TV show
“Last of the Summer Wine” drew us to Holmfirth.
The James Herriot novels, and the TV series “All Creatures Great and
Small,” led us to Thirsk. Having driven
through Yorkshire, and visited these towns, we’ve taken time to linger. To just see, listen, and feel. In Ashley Jackson, we’ve discovered someone
whose work reminds us of why we came to love Yorkshire, even if, all the time, or
even most of the time, the weather isn’t cheerful and carefree. Thank you, Ashley, for staying true to your
vision.
Fascinated by a true artist,
Dragon Dave
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