London Exhibition

Royal Society of Marine Artists Exhibition

Success!!  My largest piece of work, "3 Buoys", has made it into the Royal Society of Marine Artists exhibition at the Mall Galleries, on the Mall.  See the Press Release below for details.  I'm looking forward to seeing my work up in such a prestigious gallery setting.  It will be interesting to see how my work compares with the other exhibits and how people respond to it.

MALL GALLERIES

Press Release

2013

Local Artist, Roy Meldrum, to exhibit in major National marine art exhibition

Work by a local artist has been selected from over 600 submissions to appear alongside paintings by some of Britain’s leading marine artists. The exhibition will be on display at the Mall Galleries near Trafalgar Square between 16 and 27 October 2013.

This annual exhibition, held by the Royal Society of Marine Artists, has come to be recognised as the most prestigious and varied exhibition of marine art in the UK. The exhibition's theme is the sea and everything related to it, from beaches and creeks to harbours and boats. The premier marine art exhibition in the country, it will feature almost 300 works from emerging and well-established artists across a range of media, including oil painting, watercolour, pastels, prints, and sculpture. All work is available for sale, so anyone can take some of the sea home with them.

For more information and images contact:

Liberty Rowley, Marketing & Press Officer

020 7968 0955

press@mallgalleries.com

Listings

Royal Society of Marine Artists Annual Exhibition

Mall Galleries

The Mall (near Trafalgar Square), London SW1

Tel: 020 7930 6844

www.mallgalleries.org.uk

Open 16 to 27 October 2013, 10am-5pm daily (closes 1pm on final day).

Press View Tuesday 15 October from 2pm to 8pm

Admission £3, Concessions £2.50 (Free to Friends of the RSMA and the FBA, Art Fund Members and under 18s).

Solo Exhibition at Plymouth Tinside Lido July 2013

Back at the end of June, early July, I managed to present a solo exhibition of my art-work at the Tinside Lido overlooking Plymouth Sound, entitled  'All At Sea', comprising of nearly sixty pieces. The venue seemed the perfect setting to show my paintings and prints which were all focused around images related to the sea, sailing and navigation. Much of the subject matter could be viewed through the windows high above the swimming pool below and the sea beyond.

The interior area had formerly been the ladies changing room but had undergone building and construction work which had never been completed leaving the large space with open, lowered  false ceilings, allowing the eye to survey an engaging, abstract -expressionist riot of peeling, hanging, twisting slivers of paint, barely still clinging to the raw, concrete structure overhead. All this seemed to lend itself  to aspects of how the work had been produced.

Responses from people who viewed the exhibition were very affirmative, fifty individuals commented in the visitors book, all in a positive way.  eg.;- 'Never seen anything like it. Very original. Loved the colours.'  Dorothy Soper, Sydney, Australia.
  Very interesting to see something original and unusual in all aspects-- seen nothing like it anywhere-- ever. They have vibrancy and life!'    Janine & Ryan
    'We all loved your exhibition, so inspiring, beautiful colours, loved the texture and use of type too. Fantastic, thanks for inviting us in.--Good luck,' The Taylor family .
   'Amazing body of work Roy-- We're absolutely gobsmacked !!' John & Jane Baldwin.
  'Great range of work. Technical and art work is first class. The imagination to produce such a collection is fantastic.' John W Francis.
   Which is all very complementary and encouraging so I'll keep on working and won't get rid of my paints just yet.

 Have a look around the exhibition through the photographs below.
 I hope you enjoy it.
  Roy.

Small Framed Paintings

Cape Verde Islands  

280x280mm

Preliminary study for larger scale.  Atlantic series sail painting.

Course Made Good  

190x240mm

Following on from the previous painting I experimented using flowing paint to resonate the falling wave pattern of the sea contrasting with the sharp, exact markings used in chart-work.

Course Track & Stream

145x190mm

Another step in playing with the composition and balance of paint and marks.

Cross Tracks

140x190mm

Further exploration of freer flow of paint and the contrasting sharpness of line.

Tidal Stream  114 degrees

120x200mm

Chart images mixed with paintflow and navigation markings.

Whitsand Bay Tacking Point.

250x350mm

Whenever sailing to the west from Plymouth the mariner inevitably encounters a s'westerly wind causing the vessel to first head in a southerly direction before going about in the hope of clearing Rame Head and making way into Whitsand Bay. Trying to minimize the effects of an adverse tide there comes a point where the sailor has to tack out to open water again or risk running aground or worse!

Whitsand Lat/Long

205x205mm

A position off Tregantle Fort where the depth markings are becoming critical.

Whitsand Position Fix

140x210mm

Paint rolling freely and this is where we are!

Whitsand Position Fix 2

200x200mm

If you can see the sand on the beach.  Double check the Lat/Long position and tack away quickly!

Whitsand Bay Estimated Position

270x390mm

When estimating position there is a clear need to closely examine the chart for depth contours and settings of submerged obstacles.

Queens Ground

260x350mm

When there has been a strong s'westerly blowing for a few days the swell outside Plymouth breakwater builds up especially off Fort Picklecombe.

Palette Island

200x290mm

Over a period of time the paint builds up fresh layers of substance and new contours are defined which all have to be charted.

Lino Prints

Print making has held a fascination for me since my school days,art college and throughout my teaching career so it seemed natural to extend the practice when I was able to devote more time to exploring my own art work in greater depth. The images shown here were included in my exhibition 'All At Sea' held at the Tinside Lido on Plymouth Hoe in early July.  

Breakwater and Fort

Breakwater Light

Cirrus Cloud

Duke Rock

Hand Deeps

Jennycliff Restpoint

Kynance Cove 2

Kynance Cove 1

Mallard Shoal

Jennycliff Wreck Buoy

  

Plymouth Working Boats

Sailing

Skerries Bank With Chart

Skerries Bank

Sound Anchorage

Tidal Flow

West Mallard

West Mallard With Chart

Black Rock 20.30 hrs

Black Rock Chart Position

Three buoys of Plymouth Sound which often form part of the yacht racing courses. Melampus fairly close to Drakes Island, where the tide flows most strongly leads on towards the mouth of the River Tamar. The cardinal mark, South Mallard is one of a group of navigation markers situated around the shallow ground of Mallard Shoal, close to the Hoe and out in line with the Mount Batten breakwater. Queens Ground is further out towards Cawsand Bay, three and a half cables, six hundred and fifty metres and certainly less than half a mile from Fort Picklcombe. The swell runs high after a solid blow from a south-westerly gale.

Black Rock at the entrance to Falmouth and Carrick Roads is a menacing mark to be cleared with due respect from all directions. My first encounter with the rock was at the end of a Plymouth to Falmouth race in early May a good few years ago. Hard pressed under a leaden sky, concerned in case we rounded up in a squally gust we were pleased to pass close by and then to drop our sails and seek a sheltered mooring.

Making Way to the South West

Runnel Stone buoy position 50 degrees 01minutes North 05 degrees 01 minutes West.

En route to the Isles of Scilly we left Penzance harbour at 04-20hrs  10th August 2003. Put in a reef at 05-45hrs passed Runnel Stone buoy at 06-40hrs - wind NNW 4/5 occasional rain. 0700hrs due south of Lands End, Wolf Rock lighthouse visible to the south west 5 miles.

 Cannis Rock buoy position 50 degrees 18 minutes North. 04 degrees 40 minutes West.

Approached from the S.W. on the homeward leg from the Scillies Relatively calm on this occasion though I've met her since when conditions have been anything but sedate ! Thirty knots of blow on leg two of the Falmouth triangle race , early May 2011. The good boat  Xstatic [X99] had to be left in Fowey because of damage to the bulkhead caused by falling and slamming off the waves. The next day's forecast was 40 knots easterly, not desirable when heading to Plymouth!

Entered two paintings for the 'Spirit of Porthleven' art competition August  2011

 I was allocated 'the slipway' as a subject to respond to. Managed to get hold of a S.W. chart that had an inset of Porthleven harbour and took photographs of the harbour slipway from various positions. The first painting used the inset as the stabilising backdrop with a viewpoint looking directly down the slip incorporating visual suggestions of the landscape beyond.

 The second painting focussed in more closely on the chart depiction of the harbour, overlaid with a poured image of the slipway from a side view looking towards the west.

 Both paintings were exhibited in the old lifeboat station gallery, which seemed a perfect setting for the subject matter. They elicited a good deal of interest and discussion from people viewing the exhibition which was encouraging. 

Mallard Shoal navigation mark just off Plymouth Hoe is a significant visual ediface and an obvious obstacle to avoid, particularly when taking part in the Plym yacht club, Friday night series, neatly positioned between a cluster of  buoys in that area. 

'Drakes Island' or as it has been reclassified 'St. Nicholas's Island' buoy, north of the island often serves as a windward rounding mark when the breeze has switched to a westerly for the start of the Friday night racing.