In conversation with Porthmeor Programme Alumnus, Gwynne Penny

How would you describe your art practice?

My art practice is very much integrated within my life.  I work with different materials at different times of the year, and in different places (generally acrylic or oil and cold wax in the studio, woodworking on the patio when the weather allows and raw canvas, paper and found objects when I’m away from home).  My practice includes photography, digital artwork, painting, writing and assemblage sculpture. 

I’m currently working on a body of work that relates to the intertidal zone of the shoreline, inspired by my time in St Ives.  Sometimes my work is more realistic, sometimes more abstract and I am interested in exploring the external and internal landscape within the work.

What does your daily routine look like?

When I’m at home, I generally get into the studio in the morning and attend to anything that needs drying time first (preparing panels, applying isolation coats, finishing wax etc) or I might do a bit of journaling to set up the day and determine what I need to work on.  I’ll stop for breakfast and coffee around 10 and then either work on paintings, sculpture or admin in the studio. 

I usually take a short break over lunch and then back into the studio until around 7pm when I’ll stop to chat to my father on the phone.  Sometimes I will be back in the studio in the evening, but I try not to work too late as it impacts my sleep. 

When I’m out at exhibitions, I tend to be out early and back late, so that minimizes my studio time, but I’ll take a sketchbook or a small wire sculpture to work on whilst invigilating/stewarding.  When I’m in St Ives, I like to go out walking early in the morning, and then return to the beach later in the day with an art or sculpture kit to work outdoors.

What do you enjoy doing outside of your art? How does that feed into your practice?

I love visiting galleries and exhibitions, swimming and walking.  I find that I can take inspiration from pretty much anything – whether it is photographing seaweed shapes left by the outgoing tide, or the cracks in the pavement on walks closer to home.  I particularly enjoy digital photography and collecting photographic reference material is part of my practice.

Who inspires you as an artist?

Peter Lanyon for his top-down perspective and making 3d constructions to help resolve/inform his paintings.  David Mankin for the way in which he brings so much feeling of the landscape onto his canvas.  Kitty Hillier for the way in which she experiments with different forms, collects and observes natural shapes.

Have you always been interested in art, or was it something you came to later in life?

I always knew that I wanted to be an artist, right from a small child, but parents steered me away from it.  I spent 36 years working in IT, but I always had some creative pastimes going on in the background. 

What did you do before the Porthmeor Programme?

I spent ten years focusing on digital photography and then started a daily drawing practice which led me back into using more traditional art materials.  I hadn’t had any formal training in art since school.

My husband gifted me a place on a week-long Artist Retreat with Ilker Cinarel and Liz Hough in 2019.  That lit a fire in me and from that point on I started to build my art practice.  I undertook a 12-week online programme which gave me a good grounding in the principles of art making, and how to use acrylic paint. 

I attended a few weekend courses that year at the School of Painting, and then applied for the Porthmeor Programme at the end of 2019.

What drew you to the programme?

It was a combination of the programme content and being able to spend more time in St Ives and in the Porthmeor studios. 

I knew that I had huge gaps in my knowledge of art materials, techniques and art history (my knowledge of art history was practically non-existent before 2019).  I found out as much as I could about the programme, and it felt like it would be a good fit for me.

What would you say has changed for you since the programme?

I’ve been able to use the things that I learned on the programme to help me develop my practice.  It encouraged me to focus more deeply on a narrower subject area and that has enabled me to start developing a body of work that has a connected theme running through it.

It encouraged me to focus more deeply on a narrower subject area and that has enabled me to start developing a body of work that has a connected theme running through it.

What is your favourite memory of the programme?

Standing in St Ives Harbour, with a storm coming in, the wind whipping the paper and the rain doing its best to wash my charcoal marks away in early December, with tutor Liz Hough.  It was exhilarating and felt a little bit crazy at the time, but the paintings that came from that are still some of my favourites.

What advice would you give someone wondering whether to apply for the programme?

Use the application process to really think about what you want to get out of the programme. Be prepared to commit to it.  Go into it with an open mind.

What artistic achievement are you most proud of?

It was a single moment of realisation and clarity that came to me at the end of that first art retreat week in 2019, that “I am an artist, and I will be for the remainder of my life”.  It was a huge shift in my thinking and has made everything else that has happened since, become possible for me.

Are you a full-time artist these days?

Yes, since taking redundancy from my IT career in November 2022.

How has your studio space evolved since being on the Porthmeor Programme?

I’m still in the same studio space, attached to my home, at the moment, and feels a little crowded but I have a ‘pop-up studio’ philosophy, which means that my studio is always with me. 

It can be a whole beach, with a giant raw canvas in front of me draped over a rock, or a sketchbook on the train or even a sketching app on my phone.

Have you taken any more courses since the Porthmeor Programme?

I’ve taken a couple of the Alumni course weekends, I did the Artist Retreat Weekend again and the Peter Lanyon course with Liz Hough last July.  I’ve also done lots of their online courses and I’m currently taking the year-long online Calendrical Art course with Kate Southworth.

Tell us about MAC | RAGS art collective

The group is comprised of 8 members, and we formed a strong bond during our time on the Porthmeor Programme. 

Ours was during the time of Covid with disruption from lockdowns, and then social distancing when we were on the programme weekends together. It wasn’t easy being segregated behind screens and visors in the studio, followed by socially distanced fish and chips in the rain.

When the programme finished, we decided it would be nice to organise an exhibition together. The name for our group came from our initials and MAC | RAGS seemed quite appropriate since we’d experienced rain on most of our Programme weekends and several of us really enjoyed painting with rags (and other things)!

Do you have any upcoming exhibitions? 

In addition to Ebb and Flow with MAC | RAGS, I’ll be returning to St Ives in June for my first solo show, at the Salthouse Gallery, called Intertidal.  I’m also taking part in Surrey Open Studios, a group exhibition in Epsom in May and the autumn art fair at the Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington in October.

What does the future hold for your art?

My number one priority at the moment is to find a way to sustain my art practice – which may involve taking part time work or teaching to enable me to continue as a full-time artist.  I’m also planning to relocate from Surrey to Cornwall within the next 12 months.