Blue Skies and Boat Trips: The Norfolk of Brian Lewis by Alan Marshall
| Blue Skies and Boat Trips: The Norfolk of Brian Lewis by Alan Marshall | |
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| Category: Art | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: A look at the work of artist Brian Lewis. Beautifully presented with just enough text to give background. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 156 | Date: April 2014 |
| Publisher: Mascot Media | |
| ISBN: 978-0957181168 | |
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There are few positive things which can be said about a substandard apartment when you're on holiday but this time, in trying to avoid looking at a problem I found myself looking more closely at a couple of pictures on the walls - and was completely taken by the work of Brian Lewis. I searched online and could only find 'used' versions of this book and the print I wanted was 'not available'. Oh, dear - then a few doors down from the apartment, I found a gift shop with a stack of brand new books - and a framed print of the picture I wanted.
Alan Marshall describes the Norfolk of Brian Lewis to be an even brighter, more cheerful place than the one most of us wake up to. Lewis, himself, says that he paints{s} the blue sky days; the lighter side of life and that he leaves the grey days and the angst for others. Marshall concludes that he's an accomplished artist who refuses to take himself too seriously. For me the technical accomplishment shines through in some of his work from the nineties, such as the wharf at Purfleet and Our Lady of Walsingham. The colour palette is much more muted, the pictures more restful but you see something new every time you look at them.
The book is essentially a trip along the North Norfolk coast from Cromer in the east to Wells-Next-The Sea in the west. Then there's a look at Norwich and inland Norfolk and 'not Norfolk'. Interspersed are pictures of 'fur and feathers' - dogs, cats and birds, usually on, or near, a beach - and then there are the seal trips. I'll confess that the seal trips are my favourites.
I've never seen a seal in real life. I want to - and I have occasionally been tempted to go on one of the trips which start out from Blakeney Quay or Morston but baulked at the thought of being part of an armada of boats going out to disturb the peace of the seals. I wondered what the seals thought about it all. I knew I wouldn't like it. And then I saw Seal Trip, painted in 2006, which turns everything on its head. The humans are laid out on the beach and the seals are coming in their flotilla of boats to stare, unashamedly, at them. Wonderful!
I enjoy looking at other pictures of the North Norfolk coast. Lewis's pictures evoke the feeling of a place, rather than the precise detail. I love the pictures of Cromer pier perhaps more than I loved my walk on it when the sea was very rough and I made the mistake of looking down through the boards which didn't quite fit together... I smiled at Lewis's different take on that much-painted windmill at Cley. I'm glad I bought this book!
Serendipity delivered another art book into my hands in North Norfolk. It goes back with me every time I visit: On My Way: Norfolk Coastal Walks by John Hurst.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Blue Skies and Boat Trips: The Norfolk of Brian Lewis by Alan Marshall at Amazon.com.
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