Fantastic outlook for artist Dawn

Published at 11:06, Thursday, 08 September 2011

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DESPITE completing a fine art degree in 1981, Dawn Mills only dabbled in painting for the next few years. Instead she concentrated on building up her homeopathy business in Lancaster.

It was when she moved to the cottages adjoining St Bees lighthouse four years ago that she was inspired to take up art once more.

And who can blame her. The dramatic scenes available to her just outside the back door would be enough to inspire anyone. “We have dramatic ‘stormsets’ as well as sunsets,” she said as she prepared her studios ready for a C-art in September.

C-art is Cumbria’s biggest Open Studios event with more than 100 artists and crafts people opening their doors to the public from September 17 to October 2.

Dawn’s paintings capture the natural world on her doorstep – the breathtaking skies, peaceful landscapes, stormy seas, wildlife and the flora and fauna.

“I work in acrylic,” said Dawn whose paintings are on sale in Framed, Whitehaven, and Lowes Court in Egremont. “It suits my style as I like to paint quite quickly. I love light, drama and colour.”

Dawn works in the open air but also takes hundreds of photos to take back to her studio with her.

One location that crops up time and again in Dawn’s paintings is Castlerigg stone circle near Keswick. The ancient site is viewed from every angle and with a myriad of different skies from the peaceful days of summer to the more dramatic dark days of winter.

She said: “I feel as if Castlerigg is a homage and celebration to the beauty and awesomeness of the surrounding landscape, it connects us solidly to the earth sky and stars and thus for me evokes an inter connectedness, a kind of portal with the spirit and source of nature.

“It has a paradoxical quality of timelessness and yet anchors you in the present moment, the here and now. They are standing stones, that’s what they do and remain still, like the surrounding mountains, how or what ever the weather throws at them, through all the seasons, they go on and on.”

It’s not just colour that Dawn uses to bring out the drama of a scene. Huge canvases with gulls or other bids pictured large are another technique that perhaps also reflect her love of photography.

Closer to home, Dawn is working on a giant panorama of Whitehaven harbour viewed from the south. “Whitehaven is a beautiful place and very under-rated. The architecture and layout of the town is fantastic.”

Dawn has chosen to picture the harbour at its busiest: during one of the festivals with thousands of people milling around.

It’s not unusual for Dawn to have more than one painting on the go at the same time. But she admits her love of painting might now be becoming a little ‘obsessive’. “I’ll put the kettle on and then pick up a paint brush. Two hours later I’ll remember the tea I was making!”

Dawn is still commuting to Lancaster for part of the week for her homeopathy work – she’s also begun offering the service at the Senhouse Centre, Whitehaven.

She has joined up with other artists in the area, particularly the artists in Irton, and is staging her own exhibition at Lowes Court, Egremont, early next year. But in the mean time she’s one of the artists taking part in C-art and her doors will be open from 1pm to 6pm from September 17 to September 25.

A number of other local artists will be taking part, including Mark A Pearce from Ravenglass.

Mark trained at Carlisle College of Art and Design before specialising in graphic design at Norwich School of Art. His designs of smiles from the likes of Denis the Menace, the Mona Lisa and the Laughing Policeman on Royal Mail greeting stamps won him a BBC design award. He set up Eskside Studio in Ravenglass in August last year, championing a technique known as reduction block printing to capture the landscape of West Cumbria in a dramatic and colourful way.

Like Dawn, Mark is fascinated by the light and colour of the West Cumbria landscape. He said: “I am continually experimenting within, and between, media, and disciplines, in order to share what is so compelling to me. This means that my paintings often look like prints, and my prints end up looking like paintings.”

At Santon Bridge Village Hall each weekend during C-art you will find Jill Davis, Inigo Ford, Gareth Harrison, Madeleine Warren and Ralf Bidder using media ranging from wood to photography.

In addition to the open studios, there will be a number of workshops, exhibitions and trails during the C-art fortnight. See www.c-art.org.uk.