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Inspiration from Artists Week 17 . J W M Turner

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Paul (Dixie) Dean

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Welcome to week  seventeen of Inspiration from Artists this week we have a whole week of one artist JWM Turner  RA .  I will say no more but hand over to Alan our own expert on the great man . If you would please open up the Turner Fest , Alan with you choices of paintings and the information I known we are all looking forward too. Hope you all enjoy the week .

Alan Bickley

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Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), a name that needs little introduction so I’ll keep that side of the intro brief! I’m my view, the finest painter of the English landscape and was known as ‘the painter of light’. Of course he was financially able to travel extensively throughout Europe as well, and produced an astonishing amount of working sketches on these painting excursions. On his death he left almost 300 sketch books in total, all of which are housed in Tate Britain. He was admitted to the RA at the age of 14, incredible achievement and unsurpassed. Known as the ‘Romantic Period’, Turner defied convention in his style and approach to the mainstream landscape painters of the time (think his greatest rival John Constable),  I’ve been carefully studying his watercolour methods recently, mainly for a forthcoming feature in TA, and I think it’s the simplicity of line and colour that intrigues me more than anything else, so few marks for such an impact - his masterly ability to capture light is the key… he made it look so simple, but simple doesn’t mean easy! I can vouch for that! I’ve selected a few from my own books that inspire me, plus a few from online, but there’s so many - his more finished watercolours are worthy of study also, particularly his later impressionist style works. Turner had his sketch books made up for him, which had a variety of tinted papers included, the most well known are Turner Blue and Turner Grey, both of which are available from Ruscombe Mill in France and Two Rivers paper mill in Somerset… hand-made of course and fabulous to paint on.  More on these papers and his watercolour palette in my feature, plus a host of other useful info… not to mention my own take on his watercolours! No pressure there then! I haven't given any titles, the sketches speak for themselves: I have though, selected a few sunsets for which he was well known. And finally, I thought I'd include one of my own takes on a well known work from the great man!

Alan Bickley

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Just to add… I’ll be showcasing a few of his oil sketches in the second half of the week - the first half is about his watercolours!

Denise Cat

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My favourite painting of Turner's is an oil painting but I'll leave that till later in the week. I'm lucky to see his work as the Walkers gallery have some of it. He was a forward thinker and you can see that in his painting of the steam train. He had a characterful personality with some eccentricity about him, my own view of course. I like this watercolour because of the simple indication of colour, you can get the hint of the voracity occurring. The Harpooned Whale. Dunstanburgh Castle.

Jenny Harris

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Saw an interesting programme last week on the influence the Welsh landscape has had on numerous painters.  Turner visited Wales on several occasions where he was also influenced by the Welsh landscape painter Richard Wilson.  The first two are part of his series on Welsh castles. These are all watercolours. Criccieth Castle Flint Castle Lake of Lucerne Loch Lomond

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Sylvia Evans

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A great intro Alan and super comments from both Denise and Jenny.  Plus the painting# you have all posted are lovely.  Will look more closely tomorrow. 
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Marjorie Firth

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I live in Warkworth, which is a fairly small village in Northumberland so of course  I’ve got to admire his watercolour of Warkworth Castle, painted from one of his sketches during his tour of the North. I’ve often tried to visualise him sitting there sketching. He did take some artist’s licence with the light source, it wouldn’t have come from that direction.

Jenny Harris

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Seeing Marjorie’s comment reminded me that Turner also painted a view that I regularly see when walking along the river Mole just down the road from me. The landscape has changed a bit, but it’s still recognisable by the church and I’ve often imagined him sitting there painting it.  It’s described as a watercolour but I can only find this black and white version.

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Paul (Dixie) Dean

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I have cheated a bit and when Alan suggested Turner I spent a few days looking at his sketch books and watercolours. I have certainly been educated and seen a side of his work that I did not know about . I find artists sketch books so interesting and look at them and still wonder how they changed what often looks like a few blobs of ink into such magnificent paintings.  I have been greedy and selected a few of ones I particularly liked I did wait until today to see if others chose them first.  A group of fishing boats. Linlithgow Palace. Coastal terrain near Genoa. View of Freshwater Bay. From his North of England sketchbook. Fall of Ladore Sorry for my greed , well I’m not really that sorry. 
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Tony Auffret

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I remember seeing his palette in the Tate, many, many years ago, and just thought how could he produce so much with so little.
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Tony Auffret

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Oops wobbly fingers double clicked the post button....again!

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Ellen Mooney

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A beautiful array of Turner’s watercolour sketches. Like Tony, I saw a Turner exhibition at the Tate many moons ago. What’s not to like about the master, who is Turner.
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