Paint Out

Paint Out Norfolk 2020 Artist Awards & Prizewinning Paintings

by
Susan Isaac, Paint Out Norfolk 2020, First Prize

Paint Out Norfolk 2020 saw some 50 artists take part in a Covid-distancing coast and countryside plein air art event. Well over 400 paintings were created and the three judges: Sarah Flynn (Sworders), Amanda Geitner (EAAF) and artist Bruer Tidman, had a tough choice to narrow them down to 3 main prizes and a personal commendation each. James and Katy also awarded two artists with the Paint Out Spirit of Plein Air prizes for their body of work produced during the event, consistency and quality. The prizes, as in 2019, went to a trio of female artists: First Prize – Susan Isaac, Second Prize – Mary Blue Brady, Third Prize – Amanda Barrett, and commendations to Alfie Carpenter, Jack Godfrey, Naomi Clements-Wright, Spirit of Plein Air awards to Paul Alcock, Sam Robbins.

First Prize

Artist Susan Isaac, Against the Waves (Winterton), Winterton-on-Sea, Oil, 50x65cm, £650. Paint Out Norfolk 2020
Artist Susan Isaac, Against the Waves, Winterton-on-Sea, Oil, 50x65cm, FOR SALE

The well-deserved first prize was awarded to artist Susan Isaac for her ‘Against the Waves’ painted at Winterton-on-Sea on day two of the art competition. It’s a large 50x65cm oil painting juxtaposing and leading the eye between two big concrete blocks and the dunes, sea and sky at the east Norfolk beach.

It’s lovely to see the finished work and it winning top prize as Susan described its creation:

“I struggled for most of the day with the various elements to the composition, trying to balance scale and contrast with colours and tones, in order to give some sense of the intense blues and mauves of the hot summers day without being too literal. I eventually felt that I had done all I could to explain what lay in front of me and what I wanted to extrapolate from it.”

Second Prize

Artist Mary Blue Brady, Cultivating the Edge, Wiveton Down, Acrylic, 8x32in, £295. Paint Out Norfolk 2020
Artist Mary Blue Brady, Cultivating the Edge, Wiveton Down, Acrylic, 8x32in

American artist, currently living on and loving the North Norfolk Coast, Mary Blue Brady, for her “Cultivating the Edge”, Wiveton Down, Acrylic, 8x32in. Mary weaves wet paint and words together in poetic landscapes.

Third Prize

Artist Amanda Barrett, Berney Arms Windmill and Breydon Water, Burgh Castle, Oil, 23x45cm, £250. Paint Out Norfolk 2020
Artist Amanda Barrett, Berney Arms Windmill and Breydon Water, Burgh Castle, Oil

Newmarket-based artist Amanda Barrett, studied at the British Institute, Florence (Renaissance Art), Brighton Art College (Fine Art Painting) and Chelsea School of Art (Graphic Design) and her “Berney Arms Windmill and Breydon Water”, Burgh Castle, Oil, 23x45cm is full of fluid strokes and layers.

Commendations

Artist Naomi Clements Wright, Pink Promenade, Cromer, Oil, 12x12in, £520. Paint Out Norfolk 2020
Naomi Clements Wright, Pink Promenade, Cromer, Oil

Naomi Clements Wright, Pink Promenade, Cromer, Oil, 12x12in

Artist Alfie Carpenter, Summer through the Trees, Wells-next-the-Sea, Mixed Media, 27x42cm, £425. Paint Out Norfolk 2020
Alfie Carpenter, Summer through the Trees, Wells-next-the-Sea, Mixed Media

Alfie Carpenter, Summer through the Trees, Wells-next-the-Sea, Mixed Media, 27x42cm

Artist Jack Godfrey, Rhythm in Blue, Norwich Cathedral, Oil, 6x17in, £230. Paint Out Norfolk 2020
Jack Godfrey, Rhythm in Blue, Norwich Cathedral

Jack Godfrey, Rhythm in Blue, Norwich Cathedral, Oil, 6x17in

 

 

 

Spirit of Plein Air

The Spirit of Plein Air awards for a body of work and consistent excellence went to Paul Alcock and Sam Robbins

Paint Out Norfolk 2020 – Covid Update

by
PAINT OUT NORFOLK 2020 July 16th to July 23rd 2020

[8 July 2020]

We will now be opening up the Exhibition every day 17th-23rd 5-7pm in Trowse/Whitlingham, Norfolk, NR14 8TR and also online.

If you live in North or East Norfolk you can go straight to coastal locations without checking in at Norwich first. The adapted rules and procedures for the event are coming together as we evaluate the post 4 July situation and most Q&A are already answered in a thread in the Facebook event group. The finalised Q&A will be emailed out later this week.

[30 June 2020]

Our daily locations are near finalised and online here. There will be broad options so artists can space out and find the best spot even across 10 mile coastal stretches or large inland areas. No painting on a pavement and people not being able to pass by with 1m+ distancing.

We may open up the exhibition daily throughout the event for an hour a day or so.

[29 June 2020]

We are finalising our Private View & short Exhibition venue (Thu 23rd 3-9pm) – which will be in Trowse/Whitlingham, Norfolk, NR14 8TR and also online.

Camping is available over the road from the Exhibition and hub site, otherwise hotels from £39/night with private bathroom or AirBnB from £19 or a private room via Couchsurfing (least advised in the current circumstances). Also, check out Visit Norfolk’s latest guidance to Respect, Protect, Enjoy after 4 July.

Our contactless logging system is in place now you’ll be able to access it (password protected for participating artists to avoid spam) on your phone, tablet, laptop etc and we’ll have some spare phones/tablets to access it too or to do it for you.

Keep up to date with Government rules (ever-changing) here – some of these are open to interpretation but with safety paramount. E.g. we are not meeting as 6 relatives or friends or having a 30-person rave/party, we are working artists. However, we will cap people in the Exhibition at 30 or fewer at a time and subject to 1m+ distancing with masks. We will be arranging and directing most of our daily instructions to paint etc via a private Facebook event group and messenger thread. If we have to gather before setting off and we have over 30 people on any given day we will split the group and stagger the starts and returns.

[25 June 2020]

We are scouting the locations over the coming days and in response to the Covid situation feel it best to avoid built-up/popular areas and, as a result, will probably save King’s Lynn for 2021. Instead, we may double up on coastal and inland or broads locations, possibly painting at 3-4 coastal spots on the North and East coasts. We will also allow additional flexibility to choose your own location that feels safest to you.

If you still want to Enter Paint Out 2020 – click here. Check out the daily, accommodation, and travel options & latest locations here.

[19 June 2020]

The latest situation is that we are going ahead. 40+ artists are still in at present (just 5% have had to drop out due to health or travel issues) and people have been entering the event again this month with a new degree of confidence). We are now in the practical stages of making Paint Out Norfolk 2020 during Covid health and safety measures a reality. Unless there is a second wave, we are painting!

Most locations (King’s Lynn, Cromer, Norwich etc) should stay the same, but we are exploring the best and safest possibilities for other venues including a historic house walled garden or estate.

We aim to have contactless logging, social distancing (expected to be 1m+ by then), signage, hands-free sanitizer etc. Masks will be recommended when we are closer together but optional when out painting.

We are finalising the hub and open-air exhibition space (with a simultaneous online presence) in the next couple of days. We will be based south side of Norwich, probably 1 mile or so from the station.

There will be camping options at the hub and exhibition site with a cafe, and AirBnB (locally from around £30/night), hotels, which will be opening up 4 July onwards.

We understand that things are running late and will be changing rapidly now, but we are experienced with 15 events under our belt over 7 years and will adjust to make this another Paint Out to remember.

We’ll be sending out camping options, accommodation links, maps and logistics in due course. Please respond to the web form [link to follow] with your interest in camping options, artist buddying and/or carpooling/social bubbling.

[4 May 2020]
With over a month into lockdown and the world in free-fall, thanks to Covid-19, the thought of Paint Out Norfolk taking place at the end of July, or indeed any cultural event, may at the moment seem remote, laughable or even potentially irresponsible.

Or maybe not?

This is to inform all those that have signed up to this year’s event, or those still considering the possibility of taking part, that no hard decisions about whether to go ahead or not will be made until mid-June at the earliest. Our fingers and paintbrushes remain crossed!

Our week-long event had included partnering with The Kings Lynn Festival, which has sadly had to close its doors this year. Our Exhibition host for 2020, the ubiquitous and much loved Norwich Department store, Jarrolds, has had to curtail the celebration of their incredible 250 years in business and close for the time being.

Out of these upsets, though, new opportunities have arisen. We are currently looking into partnering with a North Norfolk Art Prize organisation, an East Anglian-based auctioneer and have adjusted our ambitions for this year’s event, in the hope that it can still go ahead in some form, to cope with social distancing measures and other vital health and safety considerations which we will outline to those taking part.

Paint Out is a flexible and adaptable organization, capable of finding new and creative ways to achieve its primary aim – to provide a platform for plein air painters to excel under the pressures of newly set challenges; to celebrate and disseminate the results of those challenges by giving artists the accolade from top art world luminaries, as well as trying to sell work to as wide an audience as is possible in the short exhibition window.

It aims to act as a forum for the exchange of new ideas within outdoor art practice and to embrace those new developments, whether it be working in new media or taking on new subjects previously considered off-limits; to collaborate with other like-minded organisations, particularly through these difficult time; and most importantly to act as a conduit for artists to form life-enhancing, lifelong, creative friendships.

Particularly during Covid-19 we are interested in the challenges faced by artists to keep painting outside or from within. Has it sent you back to the studio or do you have a garden to paint in or from? Has it changed your subject matter? What are the lockdown pros and cons, what do you miss most about a plein air paint out? Please fill in our plein air painting ‘lockdown’ survey – it’s peppered with inspiring art quotes too and quite fun.

We really hope that you will keep tuned in to the website, social media and our mailings and prepare for some exciting new initiatives to ride us out of lockdown and with luck out into the sunshine of Paint Out Norfolk 2020.

Do keep in touch via our Facebook community page and share your plein air #ArtistSupportPledge paintings there and tag @PaintOut on Instagram similarly if you want extra help signposting your plein air works and any other artist campaigns that still centre the world of plein air art practice. In the meantime keep well and keep safe.

Paint Out Norfolk – Our Biggest Plein Air Event in 7 Years, July 2020

by
Emily Faludy and Karen Adams painting How Hill, Paint Out Norfolk 2019

Paint Out 2020’s outdoor painting programme will be our biggest yet. An 8-day tour of Norfolk and Norwich (16-23 July). Some 40 artists have been accepted already from the UK and USA with more joining us from Russia and elsewhere. We are expecting around 50-70 plein air artists. Brush up alongside new and familiar faces of the outdoor art practice community. Challenge your creativity. Develop your skills. Win prizes. Sell your artwork.

Artist Julie Hodgson painting at the Castle during Paint Out Norwich 2018
Artist Julie Hodgson painting at the Castle during Paint Out Norwich 2018

For our 7th year leading the field in UK plein air innovation and inspiration and for the second year in East Anglia, we are making this our flagship event for 2020. As we enter the next decade, our founding event Paint Out Norwich (2014) will become a part of our broader Norfolk event and we are moving it up to high summer from its founding origins in autumnal October where it began as part of the Hostry Festival.

Paint Out is the first and consistently long-running event of its kind in the UK and with over 15 events in 3 counties under our belt, prides itself in its quest to innovate and set new challenges, year on year.

Artist Sarah Allbrook at Paint Out Norfolk, Wells Beach
Artist Sarah Allbrook at Paint Out Norfolk, Wells Beach

Come and capture the height of summer in city, coast and countryside locations including Norwich, Norfolk seaside, seaport and market towns, and historic houses. Days and destinations are still being finalised but are set to include: King’s Lynn Festival, Cromer, Sheringham, North Walsham, and a couple of days and nights in Norwich.

There will be guest artists, painting demos, prestigious art talks, and daily prizes. Long summer days and evenings spent painting and socialising in stunning coastal, rural, market town and city environments.

Individual, weekend and multi-day choices available and transport options to county destinations. Priced from £15-£30/day – the early bird discount at £120 is sold out but the not-so-early bird discount of all 8 days at £135 till 29 February is open, rising to £150 in March.

Artist Emily Faludy painting a nocturne during Paint Out Norwich
Artist Emily Faludy painting a nocturne during Paint Out Norwich

Artists looking to hone their outdoor painting skills will be walking on the shoulders of plein air giants. Norfolk and Norwich can justifiably be called the crucible of plein air painting. The Castle Museum in Norwich has the largest collection of Cotmans and Cromes to name a couple of historic luminaries and has very recently acquired a magnificent JMW Turner (Walton Bridges, 1806) – his first open-air work, an analysis of which we hope will form part of our evening lecture programme. Looking to their masterly neighbours across the North Sea (Dutch Golden Age), the vast skies, watery dykes and unique cool filtered light are replicated in Norfolk and have inspired artists down the ages.

Artist Tom Cringle at Paint Out Norfolk, Wells Beach
Artist Tom Cringle at Paint Out Norfolk, Wells Beach

2020 will see us transport artists around the county to Georgian set-piece market towns, Victorian and art deco crumbling seaside splendour, replete with piers, funfairs, harbours and crab boats. The magnificent medieval architecture of Kings Lynn and Norwich will be supplemented with a return to our 2019 garden theme by taking in a Humphrey Repton red book garden or similar historic country house. A quick draw in front of one of the UK’s oldest and largest markets will provide more than a surge of adrenalin, draw crowds and create bonds with fellow artists.

Paint Out is your chance to make friends, exchange techniques and laugh too, it will be creative inspiration, life-changing and enhancing.

Enter Paint Out Norfolk, 16-23 July 2020 

Artist John Behm painting Anglia Square outside Hollywood Cinema, Paint Out Norwich
Artist John Behm painting Anglia Square outside Hollywood Cinema, Paint Out Norwich with Alan partridge mural

Paint Out Gardens Elsing Hall Art Gallery

by
Artist Stephen Johnston painting plein air at Paint Out Elsing Hall Gardens, Norfolk

Elsing Hall Gardens was visited on 16 Jun & 15 Sep 2019 one of seven days painting in six of Norfolk’s great gardens, and this grade I listed rural home has been described as “one of the hidden treasures of East Anglia”. The 20-acre estate of the fifteenth-century house and medieval moat near Dereham was previously recorded in nineteenth-century watercolour paintings by Rev James Bulwer now held in the Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery. In June, the roses were in full bloom but throughout the year the gardens have views around every twist of moat and turn of corner.

Artist Eleanor Alison painting plein air at Paint Out Elsing Hall Gardens, Norfolk
Artist Eleanor Alison painting plein air at Paint Out Elsing Hall Gardens, Norfolk

The romantic gardens were established over 30 years ago under the direction of Shirley Cargill and have constantly developed ever since in terms of both restoration and innovation. There is a historic hydraulic ram pump that was installed almost 200 years ago and is still housed in its original underground brick pump house accessed by a spiral stairway.

Many other interesting features include the probably unique gingko avenue, the rapidly maturing pinetum, the formal Osprey Garden, the flowing planting around the moat, and densely planted with Lonicera Nitida viewing mound with a spiral path taking one slowly to the summit.

Paint Out Elsing Hall Art Gallery

Paint Out Norwich Plantation Garden

by
Artist Eleanor Alison painting plein air at Hunworth Hall Paint Out Norfolk Gardens 2019

Ahead of our autumn exhibition 17-27 October in the Norwich Cathedral Hostry our last of seven paint outs in six gardens is on 15 Oct 2019 at Norwich’s Victorian-style gothic Plantation Garden.

Norwich Plantation Garden
Norwich Plantation Garden

The “Gothic” fountain is unique and fancy bricks from a local manufacturer were used to create medieval style walls, ruins and follies. Within less than 3 acres, Henry Trevor established a gentleman’s residence and garden that reflected in miniature the grand country houses of the Victorian period including terraces with balustrades, rockworks, a Palm House, and a rustic bridge.

“3-acre Victorian town garden created 1856-97 in former medieval chalk quarry. Remarkable architectural features include a 60ft Italianate terrace, unique 30ft Gothic fountain, newly re-built Gothic alcove, restored rustic bridge and summerhouse. Surrounded by mature trees. Beautifully tranquil atmosphere. The Plantation Garden is a grade II English Heritage registered garden established 143 years ago in an abandoned chalk quarry some 600 yards from the city centre. It comprises nearly 3 acres in all, and includes, a huge gothic fountain, flower beds, lawns, Italianate terrace, ‘Medieval’ terrace wall, woodland walkways and rustic bridge. There are many hidden and unique features to this idiosyncratic garden, making it a haven of peace and tranquility, and a glimpse into a bygone age.” – Head Gardener

 

Paint Out Norfolk Gardens

Each of the events can be entered individually or as a series. The dates and locations of the Paint Out Gardens series are:

Stody Lodge Gardens (26 May)
Elsing Hall Gardens (16 Jun & 15 Sep)
Houghton Hall walled garden (14 Sep)
Hunworth Hall garden (5 Oct)
Norwich Bishop’s Gardens (14 Oct)
Norwich Plantation Garden (15 Oct)

The finished artworks will be shown and available for sale at the eleven-day art exhibition during the October Hostry Festival in Norwich.

Paint Out Norwich Bishop’s Gardens

by
Artist Eleanor Alison painting plein air at Hunworth Hall Paint Out Norfolk Gardens 2019

Fittingly, for our autumn exhibition 17-27 October in the Norwich Cathedral Hostry we are also painting the Norwich Bishop’s Gardens on 14 Oct 2019. Norwich Bishop’s House Gardens

The Bishop’s Garden is a historic private four-acre formal city centre garden that has belonged to the Bishops of Norwich for over 900 years and includes 14th-century ruins. The general form of the garden was laid down at least 300 years ago and includes many hidden and historic delights.

“The garden has many hidden delights for visitors such as the large traditional herbaceous borders, a small woodland walk, boxed rose beds, a long shade border with hostas, meconopsis and tree ferns. Also a large wild grass labyrinth, extensive shrubberies containing many rare and unusual plants, among these being a Hebe planted from a sprig taken from Queen Victoria’s wedding bouquet in 1840. There is an organic kitchen garden, bamboo walk…and the garden continues to evolve with new plants and features being introduced year by year.”

 

Paint Out Norfolk Gardens

Each of the events can be entered individually or as a series. The dates and locations of the Paint Out Gardens series are:

Stody Lodge Gardens (26 May)
Elsing Hall Gardens (16 Jun & 15 Sep)
Houghton Hall walled garden (14 Sep)
Hunworth Hall garden (5 Oct)
Norwich Bishop’s Gardens (14 Oct)
Norwich Plantation Garden (15 Oct)

The finished artworks will be shown and available for sale at the eleven-day art exhibition during the October Hostry Festival in Norwich.

Paint Out Hunworth Hall Garden

by
Hunworth Hall canals

Hunworth Hall garden, on 5 Oct 2019 is the fourth of six of Norfolk’s great gardens we are painting in this year as part of a series exploring the draw of the English garden in our cultural and artistic psyche. Whether a cottage garden or a landscaped historic estate they all change through the seasons and our final three gardens are seen through autumnal eyes.

Hunworth Hall Aerial photo via flickr by John D Fielding sqHunworth Hall EBTSNear Holt and Melton Constable, owners Henry and art historian Charlotte Crawley researched the horticultural heritage of their home and restored its Dutch-style pleasure gardens including flowing lines of sculpted hedged, twin canals, a folly, and extensive topiaried trees cut into balls, cones, and parasols.

Hear Henry describing the garden on the BBC which are partly inspired by the 17th-century Dutch water garden at Westbury Court, Gloucestershire. The garden featured in Country Life, 2013.

Charlotte is also a former Director of the East Anglia Art Fund and has been a Paint Out judge.

 

Paint Out Norfolk Gardens

Each of the events can be entered individually or as a series. The dates and locations of the Paint Out Gardens series are:

Hunworth Hall EBTSStody Lodge Gardens (26 May)
Elsing Hall Gardens (16 Jun & 15 Sep)
Houghton Hall walled garden (14 Sep)
Hunworth Hall garden (5 Oct)
Norwich Bishop’s Garden (14 Oct)
Norwich Plantation Garden (15 Oct)

The finished artworks will be shown and available for sale at the eleven-day art exhibition during the October Hostry Festival in Norwich.

Paint Out Houghton Hall Walled Garden

by
Oxana Klip and James Colman painting Houghton Hall at Paint Out Norfolk 2019
Artist Jack Godfrey, 'Hornbeam Avenue', Houghton Hall, Paint Out Norfolk 2019
Jack Godfrey, ‘Hornbeam Avenue’, Houghton

Paint Out‘s 2019 plein air exploration of Norfolk’s great gardens and houses continues with Houghton Hall walled garden (14 Sep, 11-5pm) but you could also double-up and do Houghton and Elsing Hall across a weekend 14-15 Sep in Norfolk.

A past winner of Christie’s Historic Houses Association ‘Garden of the Year Award’, the 5-acre walled garden has become one of Houghton’s most popular attractions and is itself surrounded by acres of deer-filled woodland and the sculptures of Henry Moore.

Whether the colour of the plantings, or the architecture of horticultural form, or the statues and fine glasshouse, there are views aplenty to paint.

Artist Karen Adams, 'The Drive to the Hall', Houghton Hall, Paint Out Norfolk 2019
Karen Adams, ‘The Drive to the Hall’, Houghton

These are available as one-day paintouts for £30 or £100 for the remaining 4 events or all 6 if you’ve already pre-paid for the year.

Other venues include Hunworth Hall garden (5 Oct), Norwich Plantation Garden (15 Oct). Paintings will be exhibited for 11 days following a Private View and Prizegiving 16 October during the Hostry Festival in Norwich.

Paint Out Houghton Hall 2019   Paint Out Elsing Hall 2019   Paint Out Gardens 2019   Paint Out Norwich 2019

Houghton Hall, Walled Garden Rollercoaster Hedges and roses, Norfolk
Houghton Hall, Walled Garden hedges & roses

The space within Houghton Hall’s Walled Garden is divided into several contrasting ‘ornamental gardens’. These include a spectacular double-sided herbaceous border, an Italian garden, a formal rose parterre, fruit and vegetable gardens, a glasshouse, a rustic temple, antique statues, fountains and contemporary sculptures including Jeppe Hein’s “Waterflame”, Stephen Cox’s “Flask II”, and Richard Long’s “Houghton Cross” currently positioned on the croquet lawn.

Houghton Hall, Walled Garden Glasshouse, Norfolk
Houghton Hall, Walled Garden Glasshouse

Historic England entry (somewhat out of date!): KITCHEN GARDEN The 5 acre (c 2ha) walled garden lies c 350m south-west of the Hall behind 3m high red-brick walls (listed grade II).

The interior has been developed over the past five years (1992-7) by the present owner as an ornamental flower, fruit, and vegetable garden and is divided into four compartments by mature yew and beech hedges connected to a late C20 central circle of yew with tree peony beds. Paths of grass and gravel radiate from this, with the long north/south axis defined by double herbaceous borders.

The easel of artist Robert Nelmes painting Houghton Hall at Paint Out Norfolk 2019
Easel of artist Robert Nelmes painting Houghton

The north-east quarter contains a newly planted (1990s) rose garden with herbaceous areas, yew hedging, a central pool, and four statues, while the north-west quarter is currently (1999) being planned.

The south-east quarter is divided by a newly planted (1990s) pleached hornbeam walk and the north-east quarter planted with old orchard trees in part, new fruit areas in part and an ornamental potager for vegetables.

The walled garden is contemporary with the building of the new hall and stables in the early C18 whilst the internal layout and glasshouses are all of late C20 origin.

Henry Moore statue (1983-4) 'Mother and Child' at Houghton Hall
Henry Moore statue (1983-4) ‘Mother and Child’ at Houghton Hall

Paint Out Holt Festival 2019

by
Artist Susan Field painting on Bishop's Bridge, Paint Out Norwich 2017. Photo © Katy Jon Went

The Holt Festival (21-27 July), now in its eleventh year, has invited Paint Out to open this year’s Festival with a two-day Paint Out and Private View (19-20 July) around the charming North Norfolk town. A day-and-a-half of outdoor painting by 25 artists should see 50+ artworks created en plein air ready for a Private View at Picturecraft Gallery on Saturday 20 July with awards announced shortly after 1pm. Saturday also sees an Art Car Boot fair featuring artists such as Colin Self running alongside from 11-5pm

Paint Out Holt - Private View Invitation
Paint Out Holt – Private View Invitation

The judges are Robert Upstone, former Senior Curator of 20th Century Art at Tate and Charlotte Crawley who is a Norfolk-based Art Historian. After studying Art History at Cambridge University and The Courtauld Institute in London, she worked for five years at Windsor Castle looking after the Royal Collection of Drawings and Prints. Charlotte recently retired as the Director of the East Anglia Art Fund and serves on the Norfolk Committee of the Art Fund.

“This combination of judges has the unique qualification of having, early in their careers, curated the foremost collections of Canaletto drawings and Turner sketches probably the most famous early Plein Air painters on the planet!” – James Glennie, Holt Festival

Holt is home to 500-year-old Gresham’s School (alumni include WH Auden, Olivia Colman, Benjamin Britten, James Dyson, and the artist Ben Nicholson) and features fine  18th-century Georgian buildings and beautiful surrounding countryside.

The two-day Paint Out will be backed up by a week-long exhibition in Picturecraft of Holt, a gallery and Art material supplier with the winners exhibiting alongside the now well established Holt Art Prize. 

Join Our Mailing List   Paint Out Register interest   Paint Out Holt 2019   Paint Out Holt PV

Paint Out Norfolk 2019

by
Artist Sarah Muir Poland painting at Paint Out Wells beach sunrise. Photo by Katy Jon Went

Paint Out Norfolk 1-7 July 2019 visits Bishop’s Bridge & the Red Lion in Norwich, Wells-next-the-Sea, the Norfolk Broads at How Hill, Houghton Hall, and the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich for art talks, inspiration from Monet and Hockney, socials, judging by George Rowlett & Paul Greenhalgh, awards and private view, public paint out (6 July) and art exhibition (6-7th). Transport to all painting sites available from Norwich.

Paint Out continues its 2019 programme that has included the inaugural Paint Out Cambridge and an ongoing series of five garden paint-outs with a multi-day premier juried painting event that takes in beach and Broads, countryside and campus, and historical buildings from the 1640s through to 1960s brutalism and 1970s modernism. The loan of a Monet and two Hockney paintings are set to inspire, as well as an art talk by Sainsbury Centre director Professor Paul Greenhalgh. A public paint out on the Saturday during the exhibition weekend (6-7 July) will make this open to artists of all abilities alongside the juried entry event 1-5 July being judged by among others, the eminent plein air artist George Rowlett.

Paint Out is thrilled to have been given the opportunity to host Paint Out Norfolk at the Sainsbury Centre – the preeminent Visual Arts Centre in the region housing an incredible collection of art spanning 5000 years of human creativity. Based at the campus of the University of East Anglia, Norman Foster’s vast 1978 hangar – the size of several football pitches, the Sainsbury Centre provides the backdrop to this year’s flagship Paint Out. It will also be the source of inspiration via an art talk and a special opportunity to view an amazing Monet painting ‘Allée de sapins à Varengeville‘ depicting the Normandy coast and two David Hockney artworks upon which artists can reflect as they head out to paint three classic locations around the county.

Paint Out Norfolk 2019 Entry  Paint Out Norfolk 2019 Gallery

Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts
Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts

The mission of this Paint Out will be to raise the critical agenda of en plein air art practice, whatever form that may take, and continue to bring the genre to a wide and increasingly knowing audience. We’ve been working closely with the Director of Exhibitions, Paul Greenhalgh, who will also be a judge at the event, on how best this can be achieved.

First and most importantly, we feel that it’s vital to not only contextualise the relevance of what’s gone before and recognise that this is often the vital starting point for many outdoor artists but also to allow for contemporary interpretation to flood the artist’s consciousness too. In fact, we have espoused experimentation from the outset of Paint Out, since 2014, and actively encourage artists to work outside their comfort zones.

Claude Monet, Allée de sapins à Varengeville
Monet, Allée de sapins à Varengeville

To that end, the Sainsbury Centre has secured the loans of two notorious exponents of plein air: Claude Monet and David Hockney. The 1882 Varengeville coastal scene by Monet has all the hallmark of the Master’s swirling brushmark notation and clear colour.

The two Hockneys, by contrast, are monumental iPad drawings of Yosemite, fizzing with intense Californian reds and greens and varied mark making. Both may seem out of place in the relatively muted English light but this will be the height of the summer and with luck, the opportunity for artists to gorge on fabulous coastal and Broadland sweeps, as well as be let loose within the grounds of one of England’s finest early eighteenth century houses.

Houghton Hall, Norfolk
Houghton Hall, Norfolk

In addition to Paul Greenhalgh acting as a competition judge, we are pleased to announce that the well-established plein air artist George Rowlett will be with us acting as a further arbiter of the artworks created. Born on the West Coast of Scotland in 1941, George attended the Camberwell School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools. He has work in public and private collections worldwide and is renowned for balancing both large bold impasto paintings and intimate up-close subjects. A description of Rowlett from a 2009 exhibition catalogue may give you an insight into the character who will be viewing your artistic impressions of Norfolk.

Artist George Rowlett painting plein air on the beach at Humberston
Artist George Rowlett painting en plein air

“When George Rowlett paints in the open air he is like a man wrestling with his subject. But what looks like a struggle is really an intimate dance. He stands back from the easel, a blade loaded with oil paint in one hand, and begins to shuffle as a boxer might, or an inexpert devotee of tai chi. His eyes and hands seem to be feeling the landscape, his shoulders move with its contours, both arms embrace its forms. Then, with a sudden stab and twist, another glistening slice of paint has been added to the thickening layers of rich impasto on the board before him.” – Robert Hewison

For those able to arrive Monday afternoon 1 July we will have a short welcome and induction in the Paint Out tent at the Sainsbury Centre site followed by an informal paint out at a pub on the river in the city of Norwich, the Red Lion by historic Bishop’s Bridge.

On Tuesday 2 July, we return to our favourite haunt on the Norfolk coast, Wells-next-the-sea which we’ve painted since 2015. Inspired by Monet’s depiction of the 1880s Normandy coast through the trees we’ll be visiting the timeless beach, dunes and pines there.

How Hill Nature Reserve, Gardens, Norfolk
How Hill Nature Reserve, Gardens, Norfolk

Wednesday’s trip will be to the beautiful setting of How Hill, the epicentre of The Norfolk Broads with its wide vistas across river and reed fen, plenty of opportunity to capture boats weaving their way up the river, original reed cutting practice, as well as the beautiful setting of How Hill’s Edwardian Garden with its terracing and eccentric layout. We will return for an art talk at the Sainsbury Centre and social.

On the third day, we have secured access to Houghton Hall and its surrounding deer park. This is an opportunity to capture one of the great houses of England and the original seat of the first Prime minister Horace Walpole.

Culminating on Friday morning, a final paint out around the campus and grounds of UEA and the Sainsbury Centre taking in 1640s Earlham Hall, 1960s Denys Lasdun’s Ziggurats, sculptures and lake, before a Private View and awards on Friday night followed by a weekend art exhibition with public paint out on the Saturday.

Transport to all locations available at a subsidised rate of £5/day.

Paint Out Norfolk 2019 Entry  Paint Out Norfolk 2019 Options

How Hill Nature Reserve, River Ant, Norfolk
How Hill Nature Reserve, River Ant, Norfolk Broads