Salt of the Earth: A Sneak Preview From Geraldine Robarts’ New Watercolour Series

Kenya Mon 10-10-2011

Salt of the Earth: A Sneak Preview From Geraldine Robarts’ New Watercolour Series
By Zihan Kassam | AfricanColours.com

In the spirit of warm salty air, Geraldine Robarts paints in radical watercolours again. Created from memory, her new series of paintings allures us with lazy boats resting on the sand, charming coastal dwellings, thriving kiosks and all the quirky details that give the Kenyan coast its eccentric flair. Her new exhibition 'Prints & Watercolours' will be on show at the Talisman Restaurant, Nairobi from October 18th until November 15th 2011.

Fishing Boats Near Watamu by Geraldin-Robarts.

Fishing Boats Near Watamu by Geraldine Robarts.

At the age of seventy two, it seems our well-loved UK-born painter has never run out of inspiration. After forty five years of stimulation from Kenya’s lively village culture, she continues discovering innovative ways to showcase radiant details from rustic life. In fact, since her successful exhibition at The Village Market in May of this year, the paintbrush hasn’t left her embrace. This time around however, it’s a different kind of brush.

After twenty years of almost exclusively using oil paints, Robarts was inspired by a watercolour painting she did in 1989. Purposely evading the details of this wonderful original work, which will be on display for you at her upcoming exhibition at the Talisman Restaurant this month, her new series of paintings is a prominent development of her previous watercolour era in the 70’s and 80’s. Having begun the excursion a long time ago, it’s of course also a continued exploration of Kenya’s mysterious and scenic coastal culture.

“Art is about looking and seeing,” she says, “and we journey and process along the way.” Robarts describes her creative process using words like abstraction, reverence and devotion. With a ceaseless passion for village life and years of lecturing experience, she teaches us that the more you pay attention to a village, “your eye sees more and more,” and all of a sudden, “a new world opens up”.

When painting such dynamic scenes, she’s been known to go back to the beginning and start the process all over again. She explains that, “As one moves forward, the process takes over and shows one new images.” You can’t blame her then, for all her exciting new takes on village life. It’s all part of the emerging creative process, almost unstoppable.

Robarts, an eccentric colorist, has also found a secret way to make watercolours more vibrant. With nostalgia for the way things were before the modern-day construction in certain townships, she created brilliant colours in order to fashion lively scenes set in old-world Shela, Watamu and Ukunda.

Friday Mosque in Shela, Lamu-Geraldine Robarts.

Friday Mosque in Shela, Lamu-Geraldine Robarts.

In some cases, she paints one colour on top of the other, creating impressive layers of colour and texture for dramatic effect. “My work is both ordered and random,” she explains. “The brushstrokes follow the passage of time as they layer and fill the canvas. This fullness especially emphasizes its singularity: an external fullness that realizes the power of the internal spirit.”

Surprisingly, it turns out that Geraldine Robarts didn’t always paint in such fanatical colour. Husband Michael Fairhead says that, “From about 1995 to 1999, Geraldine only painted in grey, blue, dark blue, gold and silver.” Apparently her work was still exquisite but it didn’t have that acute Geraldineness we’ve all come to recognize so well. Perhaps the dramatic revival of colour in her life then, had something to do with his presence. If you know Michael Fairhead, you’d also know that it’s quite possible.

Always something new in her studio, this time it turns out our sea goddess, using a very handy technique, sets her watercolours in effervescent oyster shells. The white of the reflective surface better reveals the color of the paint, giving the artist a clearer picture of what will translate to paper. As you go through Robarts’ paintings in there, you can’t help but notice just how many colours she really uses. For anyone who has picked up a paintbrush, you know that it takes talent to create a palette that bestows the kind of unity found in Robarts’ work. For those who assume colour combination comes trouble-free, try painting a complicated scene with colour harmony. It really requires a sixth-sense.

At the exhibition, after you you’ve had a taste of salt hopefully you’ll give the insects a try. Other than her ocean inspired paintings, Geraldine Robarts will also be displaying work that celebrates the importance of insects in the cycle of life. The large pieces consist of oil paint on goatskin vellum. Handmade insects made from mixed media including Maasai beading infest the work, giving them a fun-loving feel. Also on display will be affordable prints of some of Robarts’ more popular paintings.

From salty brine, Robarts’ magic hands have playfully shaped coastal images so vivid they’re a testimony to the creative process. Fittingly, one of her most favourite Baha’i sayings is, “Work done in the spirit of service is worship.” In a state of “free evoking purity,” she might say, Geraldine Robarts paints prayers of merriment that travel in to people’s homes and offices bringing a little spring to their step and, as she continues exciting us with free-flowing scenes from nature, being curious about what’s new in her work is only inevitable.

Posted By: Allan Kapten

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