Art | alan frost photography

Posts from the ‘Art’ category

Remembering Norman Ackroyd CBE RA … 1938-2024

I was very saddened to hear that the wonderful and well renowned artist and printmaker Norman Ackroyd had passed away at the age of 86 on the 16th September 2024. His beautiful and atmospheric aquatint etchings are in art collections around the world.

I first discovered his works of art many years ago and had the good fortune to both meet him and listen to a talk he gave on printmaking at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester back in January 2019. It was a most inspiring evening as he spoke about not only his approach to his art, but also the many places he loves and had visited around the shores of Great Britain and Ireland. In particular he told the audience about the west coast of Scotland, including some of the most remote islands including St Kilda, the Treshnish Isles, and Muckle Flugga, which is often named as the most northern tip of the British Isles on Shetland in Scotland, to name but a few.

Some years before that evening I had purchased a very fine book of his work titled ‘A Line in the Water’. The book also included some evocative poems by Douglas Dunn OBE. On the inside of the dust jacket it reads and I quote –

‘In his almost obsessive exploration of the farthest reaches of the British Isles, Norman Ackroyd captures the meeting of land and sea in atmospheric aquatint. His work and Dunn’s complement each other in a memorable fusion of word and image that attests to the power of the place and reflects the extraordinary diversity of Britain’s littoral margins.’

On meeting him after the talk he very kindly agreed to sign this book for me. It was an evening I shall never forget and a book I will never part with.

I love Ackroyd’s work. His unequaled technique and the places he depicts are everything I could ask from a landscape artist. He has inspired me in my own photographic work and whilst I doubt I will ever visit the far flung places he has been to, I feel that through his art he has taken me there emotionally and for that I shall always be grateful.

There have been many fine obituaries in the press over the past couple of weeks, so I do not intend to repeat what you can read online but I have included some videos below which you may care to watch.

The first two are from the series – ‘What do artists do all day?’ which were first broadcast in 2013. The third video is a talk when in the space of several minutes he recites the names of the places he has etched and painted in over four decades. Inspirational.

And finally I have included one of my own photographs looking east down Loch Sunart in Scotland, captured when sailing on the ferry from Tobermory on the Isle of Mull to Kilchoan on the Ardnamurchan peninsular in October 2022.

Thank you Norman Ackroyd and may you Rest in Peace.

Abstraction of Idsworth with ICM

Earlier this week I posted my first attempt at an image utililising intentional camera movement (ICM). You can read this entry here.

Since then I have identified and processed two other frames taken on the same outing.

I have written before on this site that I have struggled with my photography in recent times. I have lacked a true sense of direction and the creative juices haven’t really been flowing. I haven’t been able to settle on one approach. Frustating yes, but at times like these I believe it’s important to consider all options, to be patient and not to restrict your choice of subject or technique. To experiment and just see what happens in the hope that given time a new creative voice will evolve.

A day at The Royal Academy of Arts in London

I recently went to The Royal Academy of Arts in Piccadilly, London to see three exhibitions. The Great Spectacle – An exhibition celebrating 250 years of The Summer Exhibition, this years Summer Exhibition itself, and last but not least ‘Landscape’ by Tacita Dean. More than enough to fill the day. It was also an opportunity to see how the newly opened gallery spaces and link between Burlington House and Burlington Gardens improved the visiting experience. Please note that all three exhibitions have now closed.

A sculpture of Sir Joshua Reynolds, the first President of The RA.

Before going any further I should just say that this post is quite long and includes 30 images. However if you are interested in a wide variety of art, both historical and contemporary please click on the ‘read more’ link below to see the whole post.

An alternative to monochrome photography – drawing in charcoal

I have just completed a short course at West Dean College on Landcape Drawing in Charcoal . I considered it to be entirely complementary to my photography; for whilst it is a very different medium the end result is still in monochrome. I have drawn in the past but rarely ever practice, so it made a pleasant change to do something entirely different.

The tutor and very talented artist was Kate Boucher, who demonstrated and clearly described her drawing techniques. She was excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. On the last day I worked from one of my photographs taken in The Lake District back 2013, which I called ‘Three Trees’. The A2 charcoal drawing can be seen above, and below I have included the original photograph so you can compare the two.

Having made the comparison it made me realise that I would now process the orginal photograph in another way. Adding more contrast, grain and a tone would create a more dramatic and moody picture – and here it is.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I still rather like the charcoal drawing although the newly processed photograph is in my opinion an improvement on the original.

Am I going to rush out and sell my camera gear? Certainly not!

However exploring different types of art brings it’s benefits and there is no reason why photography and drawing can’t work alongside one another. I can learn things from both and apply some of these ideas accordingly. Irrespective of the medium being used, a pleasing and successful image needs to be well seen and composed; suitably processed or drawn and the direction of the light and how it falls on the subject will always play a crucial part in the overall result.

At the end of the day – observation, capture, interpretation and your vision is what art and picture making is all about – never neglecting of course that you should always try and have fun along the way.