Description
A Fantastic watercolour of boats caught at low tide at Lympstone, Devon. The painting is beautifully executed and depicts a lone boat owner pushing their little rowing boat out to sea whilst other boats are beached by the low tide. There are some properties on the left hand side of the painting surrounded by trees. The picture is both signed and titled to the bottom right corner. It is framed, glazed and mounted with the frame measuring 42 x 33 cm (16″ x 13″) with the painting itself measuring 23 x 13 cm (9″ x 5″).
Mark Gibbons was born in Lyme Regis in 1949. He graduated from Hull University before setting off on some travels to experience and paint his way around the world. He settled in his beloved West Country a number of years ago and currently lives with his wife in North Cornwall. Mark is a full time artist and has exhibited over the years at The Royal Watercolour Society in London and has done a number of commissions for Devon County Council including one which was presented to President Mitterand of France on the anniversary of The D-Day landings. He is widely regarded as one of the West Country’s best watercolourists.
The following is an excerpt from an article in our local newspaper that featured this painting….
“Artistic talent can be found anywhere…The artist turned farmer.
Sometimes true artistic talent doesn’t start early, it can be something that one develops later in life. The artist of our lovely little painting today is a case in point.
The painting, entitled “Low Tide at Lympstone”, was painted by Mark Gibbons and is a delightfully subtle watercolour with muted hues giving the feeling of calmness and peace. It is of a lone soul pushing his small boat out into the river which is at a very low ebb. Other boats lie around in the shallows or beached on the sandbanks. The houses and buildings to the bank are somewhat misty in appearance and the light of the sky would indicate this scene is of either early morning or twilight. Either way it is beautifully executed and evokes a real feeling of peace and tranquillity.
Mark Gibbons was born in Lyme Regis, Dorset in 1949, his father was in the RAF and when Mark was five his father was posted to Penang, Malaysia. Mark and the rest of the family followed on by boat a few months later. The family making a small prefab bungalow their home. He loved the sheer variety of exciting things to be seen in Penang such as monkeys running around in their back garden and the jungle behind their bungalow, sugar cane growing everywhere, the rambutans (a type of tropical fruit), etc. It was a totally different way of life that the young Mark took to straight away.
It is no surprise then that as an adult Mark had a desire to travel and following graduating from Hull University he went on his travels. He spent time in Australia, almost settling there. Before continuing on with his travels, he had taught himself to paint using the likes of Turner and Sargent as his main inspirations. He detailed everything that worked and aborted anything that didn’t. His travels started in Australia, but he visited many countries and experienced a lot more of the world than most, due to his love of the outdoors and willingness to camp out in the wilds.
When eventually coming back to the UK he initially settled in South Devon, becoming a full-time artist, spending time painting al fresco, camping out in his old fishing tent whilst capturing the natural beauty of his surroundings. In 2003 he and his wife bought a small holding in North Cornwall, being close enough to The Dartmoor National Park and the rugged Cornish coast to be able to paint them both regularly. He is now the proud keeper of bees, chickens, cows, a massive vegetable garden and an orchard.
This is one of two similar watercolours I have in my possession at the moment by Mark Gibbons. Both are the same size and are in identical frames and mounts and would be ideally sold as a pair. However, they could be separated if necessary.”
