Sunday, May 18, 2014

Sunday Salon: British Contemporary Painter Simon Palmer

Simon Palmer - The Next Door Neighbor - source

Simon Palmer - Longstone Peak - source

Simon Palmer - The Composers - source

Simon Palmer - Following the Visiting Preacher - source

Simon Palmer - Low Rookwith - source

Simon Palmer - Two Images of Himself in the Future - source

Simon Palmer - Cycling Home - source

Simon Palmer - The Signalman and the Guard - source

To see a slide presentation of more of Simon Palmer's work, please use this link.

Simon Palmer (1956 - ) is a British painter whose work I've only recently discovered. The artist lives and works in northern England, his work primarily focused on the subdued but strangely moving beauty of the Yorkshire Dales.

The artist's love of the Dales is on display in every square inch of his enigmatic watercolor paintings. The earth toned colors are symbolic, I suppose, not only of the overall light and shadow in and around his home in Ellingstring, Wensleydale, but of the earthiness of the tough and resilient people of Yorkshire.

I am taken by Palmer's imagination, the eccentric take he has on life among the hedgerows, fields, stone houses, trees and rolling hills. Slightly sinister, but beautiful and never off-putting.

The book published in 2012 source 

22 comments:

  1. Not dissimilar to Samuel Palmer, eh? I do like them.

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    1. I like them too. But Samuel Palmer doesn't seem to have the 'sinister' quality. I notice that he has a habit of inhabiting his landscapes with religious icons. A bit strange, I admit. There is also a contemporary painter named Simon Palmer who is an Australian and does totally different work.

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    2. Only three - so far. I can stand it. :)

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  2. Hello Yvette:

    What a wonderful painter and one, to our shame, we have known nothing about until now. How can this be? His work is most appealing in its portrayal of the English countryside and yet there are instances of humour which add another dimension. His work reminds us a little of both Paul Nash and Eric Ravilious who painted not dissimilar subject matter in the early part of the C20.

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    1. Well, tit for tat, dear Jane and Lance. You teach me about Hungarian painters I've yet to discover and I get to introduce you to something new in return. :) I'm not sure I'm familiar with either Paul Nash or Eric Ramillious, so I'm off to take a look.

      Another artist whom some say reminds them of Simon Palmer is Sir Stanley Spencer, a wonderful painter of rather more eccentric bent.

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  3. Interesting take on the trees.

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    1. Yes, they are his own, that's for sure. I like that they seem to be about to do something. :)

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  4. Thank you Yvette for another introduction to an interesting artist. His work is quintessentially English focusing on the northern part of the country. Many of the paintings seem to have a mysterious element to them and as you mentioned sinister. For example I don't think that I would like to walk along that path of trees and come across the preacher. However, I really like his work - the colouring, the landscape, particularly the trees, and the architectural details.

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    1. You're welcome, Rosemary. Yes, that preacher makes me think twice. :) I am really intrigued by Palmer's choice of color and the way that his paintings are almost instantly recognizable and yet, at least for me, totally foreign.

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  5. Hi, Yvette,

    Thanks for introducing me to Simon Palmer — and the beauty of the Yorkshire Dales! I enjoyed visiting Simon's slide show, and especially like his work titled Pennine Railway. It's a marvelous composition.

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    1. You're most welcome, Mark. I'm always happiest when I'm introducing an artist you're not familiar with. :) Since you know so many already, that is. I like Palmer's work a lot. If I had the dough I'd buy an original while they're still a bit affordable.

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  6. Wonderful sunday post! Awesome paintings....

    Here is my post!!

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    1. Thanks, Gautami. I'll check out your post.

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  7. So eccentric. THe colors and lighting are so bright, but the shadows and the twisted odd shapes of the trees lend some of the paintings a menacing mood. I love these. I'd hang any of these on my walls if I could find prints. Never heard of this guy nor ever seen one of these.

    Related to painting and art, here's something you might be interested to learn. There is a new movie about the life of Turner. It played at the Cannes Film Festival just a few days ago and I'm hoping the movie will open in the US sometime in the fall. Mr. Turner is wirtten/directed by Mike Leigh (not the first person I'd think of to film a historical biopic) and stars Timothy Spall as the famed landscape painter.

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    1. Prints are available through the art gallery mentioned in the links, John. I think you should be able to find some in this country. Worth looking for that's for sure. Let me know what you find.

      Oh, that movie sounds right up my alley, John. Thanks for letting me know. I've also got my eye on the movie about the Cornish painting colony (Alfred Munnings and his crowd) SUMMER IN FEBRUARY (I think that's the title) waiting for it to become available on Netflix. I also have the Charles Dickens movie lined up, THE INVISIBLE WOMAN.

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    2. I saw the Dickens movie. Ralph Fiennes does a lively, sometimes arrogant portrayal of Dickens. But I wasn't thrilled with it. For themost part it's somber and stuffy. Fiennes also directed. Maybe that's the problem. The actress (cna't remember her name at all) who plays Ellen Ternan bothered me. Couldn't really tell what we were supposed to think of her. She comes off as a hypocrite. Even Kristin Scott Thomas (an actress I deeply admire) was kind of dull in this movie. But don't let my usual highly opinionated view dampen your interest. The scenes about Dickens' and Collins' theater company were the most interesting part of the movie for me.

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  8. Gorgeous. I want a few of these on my walls.

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  9. Yvette, as John says, I'd hang these beautiful paintings on my walls too. If only I could walk through the Yorkshire Dales countryside, between the hedgerows and fields and the trees and rolling hills. Watercolour paintings make nature look more natural.

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    1. 'Watercolour paintings make nature look more natural.' I love that, Prashant. You are SO right.

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  10. Works of great beauty and sensibility; love the mysterious undertone. Otherwise, chanced on this arti via Pinterest...

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