PAINTING WITH THE EARTH

PAINTINGS WHICH FUSE AESTHETIC CONCERNS WITH THE ENVIRONMENT

Candida Sea Blyth, (Cea) was born in West Sussex and studied Art History at the University of East Anglia. She has travelled widely, studying indigenous art in Australia, Thailand and Africa.

Pictured right: Native Australian Rock Art seen and photographed by Cea at Jalwabinna, North Queensland, Australia in 1989.

Her paintings are an experience of British indigenous art; inspired by the colours, sparkles and textures of the earth as much as by the energies and archetypes that present themselves from the landscape. Her individual style is simple and expressive, with flat areas of colour to show off the colours of the Earth.

The paintings are created with pigments, which Cea collects as soil from different locations and then fixes them with 'gum arabic' and a resin from almond trees, which she collects in Spain. The only exception is the green, an earth pigment, bought from Cyprus. She paints on handmade paper or unbleached hemp canvas (because it doesn't require chemicals to grow it.)

Cea also works for commissions, runs workshops for others to gather, create, and paint with their own earth-pigments, and works as a resident artist in schools and other institutions. She also works as a mural painter, workshop leader and community artist. Her murals can be seen in Spain and Devon.

Since 2002 Cea has evolved a new way of working and changes can be seen in her form and technique. She now chooses more simplicity and abstraction. The basic framework for many of her compositions is the painting of stripes out of which a landscape emerges. The horizons created by overlapping edges become the rise and fall of the land. These paintings are meditative, elemental and expressive.

Pictured right: Jars of earth pigments collected locally in Devon, Dorset and from around the world. Click on the image for a closer look.

"As I’m painting simple stripes of colour these beautiful landscapes appear.” Cea.

Cea no longer uses brushes to paint with, spreading the pigment using sheep’s wool or a wad of pony hair, either by hand or under her bare feet.

She makes paints with earth gathered from many places, which gives each one a distinctive colour, texture and character. The bare earth is then mixed with tree resin and applied to soft hemp canvas or thick handmade paper. It is a process of experimentation, taking layer after layer before the earth painted on the canvas glows at the same intensity as it did in the landscape, revealing something of the spirit of the land itself.

There are around one hundred pigments in Cea’s collection: bright yellow or bluish-grey clay from the banks of the River Ashburn where she lives, creamy clay from a favourite swimming spot on the River Dart, deep blood red beside sparkling metallic silver from an old mine in the woods near Bath.

Cea is available to take personalised commissions and create works of art for a specific person or purpose. A special commission’s service is now offered including private consultation time. Whatever the inspiration, Cea will create a picture that captures your idea or occasion. Please contact Cea today to find out how your vision can become reality.

Pictured right: Fire and Sun from Cea's recent Elemental series. Moon and Tides which was a private commission.