Over the last six years I have spent much of the winter months travelling and painting in the northern, central and southern regions of India. A place of beauty, vibrancy and life, it offers chaos in an explosion of colour. I travel with large sketchbooks in which I record my time and journeys there. These become books of stories, of events and memories that I refer to when back in the studio in Cornwall.
I returned from my last trip in March last year, just before lockdowns were introduced both here and in India. This first period led to more time spent in the studio, taking the opportunity to look back at all my Indian sketchbooks from past years and together with the sketches from my most recent visit, they provide valuable source material for new paintings.
Also, throughout these times I have engaged once more with the Cornish landscape. Some of my favourite spots, the coves and beaches and the moorland of Penwith, were quiet and I felt the wildness and isolation of this special place again. Painting on location, battling the elements as the wind moves the light across the landscape and in the evening, the waves appearing from the dark, cold sea and the colours in the sky are so crisp.
For me the paintings of India are all about telling stories of my adventures on my travels, whilst in the Cornish paintings I attempt to capture the essence of the place at that time.
Paul Wadsworth, January 2021
