Painting Sea | VanGerven VanRijnberk

During our residencies, we are curious about how the local artist practice and art scene evolve in the contemporary. We are always talking to peers and making new artist friends. And at times we meet up with fabulous surprises and with artists whose work we truly admire. One of them is Simon Carter.

We met Simon Carter in the summer of 2015. We love Simon Carter’s use of colour and bold brush strokes in combination with his sensitivity to light. Simon is a generous wholehearted painter, who paints every day and who finds his inspiration close to his home which is near the sea and the marches. Simon Carter: “I have a fairly limited palette of colours: Ultramarine and Cerulean Blue, Cadmium Red, Crimson, Cadmium Yellow, Phthalo Green, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber and Titanium White. I often have some Permanent Rose about as I have a bit of a thing for it (I especially like it in watercolour). In the past I have also used Emerald Green, Cobalt Blue, Violet and Lemon Yellow but have found none of them indispensable. I use about four times as much white as any other colour.
Currently I am using Spectrum Spectracryl colours which I buy in bulk direct from the manufacturer. I usually buy them in 2.5 litre tubs and decant them into smaller jars. They are good paints at a good price, my only complaint being that their yellow is a little thin and bodiless but I can overcome this by adding acrylic gel to it. The only other medium I use is a retarder in warmer weather.”

“I live on the east coast. Each day I make drawings about things happening in the landscape; often returning to the same places for months at a time, sometimes just walking and seeing what happens. I use these drawings in the studio to improvise and rehearse possible ways to turn observation into painting. I look for things in the drawings that seem true, alive and unexpected.”