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| Seb receives a lot of emails asking questions about his work. As new ones are received we will add them and his answers to this page. |
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What
is it about Cornwall and in particular St Ives that inspires you? I grew up in St. Ives so of course it has a very special place in my heart. I think if you have an affinity with something or someone it makes for a much better painting. It’s like writers say – write about what you know. I think that’s true for painting too. Of course it helps that St. Ives is such a beautiful place. How do you set about a painting? Do you take sketches from life/memory or photographs? For most of my paintings I work from a sketch. It serves two purposes; firstly as a reference aid but more importantly the process of making a drawing helps to fix a scene in your mind. My linocuts are an exception. I usually do these from my head, taking a mental walk around the town. Have you or do you ever work 'en plein air'? I often go out drawing and sometimes begin a painting in situ, then finish it in my studio. Occasionally I will produce the whole painting on site but it can be difficult to return to a site at the same time of day and to the same weather conditions/tide etc. One picture I did took four years to complete because of this! Which artists have inspired you or influenced your work? I try not to let other artists influence me too much, but there are plenty I admire and no doubt influence me despite this. I like the works of the St. Ives moderns; Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson, Brian Pearce etc. I also like the current local impressionists; John Breton, Kurt Jackson and others. I can relate to these painters because they are using the same subject matter as me. Internationally I’ve always loved Picasso, Matisse, Klimt, but my big fave is the Lanzarottean artist/architect Cezar Manrique. You tend to use a lot of new techniques and styles in your work. Why do you strive to create new and exciting techniques in your paintings? For many years I used to produce work in only one style - painted linocut reliefs. About 7 years ago I just stopped in the middle of a painting and thought "I've had enough of this." I had got to a point where there was almost no creativity in my work and it was a matter of just going through the motions. So I took a sketch pad and went down to Cot Valley near St. Just and did some really wild drawings. When I got back to my studio. I took a spoon and started pouring paint onto canvas. From that point it just sort of snowballed and I almost couldn't stop myself from trying different techniques. It's very easy to let yourself get stuck in a rut, especially when your work is selling well. This all happened about the time my parents died so I suppose I was thinking about life being too short and all that. How do you create your paintings? Is it from memory or do you work ‘there and then’? I usually produce linocuts from memory (though sometimes from a mixture of memory and drawings.) Most of my paintings and loose reliefs are done from sketches made on the spot, though some times I will start a canvas plein air and finish it in my studio. I often do 'studies' - quick paintings in situ which are often finished pieces in their own right. My spoon outline pictures are always made from simple line drawings, and abstracts are from all the shapes and colours I soak up while out drawing and painting. Your paintings are very individual; do you have any advice on how I can make my artwork more personal and unique? Enjoy your work. Approach each piece with no pre-conceived idea of how it will turn out. Approach your work with the enthusiasm of a small child. Experiment. Don't be afraid to make mistakes, mistakes are often the best bits and if they aren't you will have learnt something. Draw a lot and in a lot of different styles then try to translate these drawings into paintings. Hey I don't know! This is what works for me but what will be unique about your work if you do as I do?
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