Abstracted Landscapes by Rob Verrill
Yesterday I had the pleasure of helping Rob Verrill create an exhibition of his recent watercolours in our gallery at the school. For those of you who regularly read this blog / newsletter you will know that Rob has recently had his work shown at the Mall Galleries with the Royal Institute of Painters In Water Colours and at the East Finchley Open. You will also know that he has just been selected by Time Out’s Arts Editor Ossian Ward for the ING Discerning Eye which is also at the Mall galleries.
The exhibition at Insight School of Art however is the biggest show of his work to date (21 pieces), which offers the rare opportunity to get a deeper understanding into what he’s all about. If you would like more information about the paintings on show, Rob will be very happy to meet you.
I’ve just written the following piece for the exhibition which starts with a favourite quote of Rob’s by Peter Lanyon.
“The paintings are not abstract, nor are they landscape. They use abstraction as a method and landscape experience as a source.”
Peter Lanyon. 1961
Rob Verrill paints the landscape. Not a view or a scene, or even a particular place, but elements taken from his memory of all landscapes. He paints what he remembers; the light, colours, contrasts and textures, placing one perfect brush mark after another, some painted fast and others slow, some big and others small, and warm bright light contrasting cool dark shadows.
Rob says he ‘is most fascinated by the edges of brush marks’, some which are left hard and others that are made to disperse softly like the last light diffusing through the branches of trees or rocks appearing through mist.
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