Picturesque Torbay. Cabbage Tree Studio CIC explores the English Riveria Geopark through the eyes of artists.
This project was inspired by a JMW Turner painting and will seek out views once painted by artists, to capture them and inspire community participation.
Picturesque Torbay is a place heritage project exploring the English Riveria Geopark through the eyes of artists.
In 1811 JMW Turner was commissioned by the Cooke brothers, to tour Dorset, Devon and Cornwall depicting views for the publication ‘Picturesque Views on the Southern Coast of England’. During his tour, Turner sketched and painted ‘Torbay from Brixham’. It is this painting that inspired this project: to seek out views once painted by artists, to capture them and inspire community participation.
The project includes:
Landscape series depicting views across the English Riviera Geopark
‘en plein air’ (out of doors) guided landscape painting workshops with community groups
Community hub based workshops, talks and pop up studios
Workshops for 4 Torbay primary and secondary schools
Art exhibitions across Torbay with works by artists and community participants including school pupils
Torbay Heritage Landscapes art history educational resource – downloadable
Coming Up
en plein air meet up 21st March 10:30 at BEACON COVE
en plain air meet up 28th March 10am at ANSTEY’S COVE
Email submission by 28th March 2025
Delivery of work by 4th April 2025
5th- 10th May 2025 Exhibition and workshops at Torre Abbey
June 2025 downloadable 'Picturesque Torbay' resource on Torre Abbey website
Get involved
Join the online gallery by adding your Torbay coast artworks to social media using the hashtag #picturesquetorbay
Why not add details of the location and encourage others to visit these English Riviera coastal vistas!
Join in with Picturesque Torbay Now
ANNOUNCING THE FINAL LOCATION! The final location for #picturesquetorbay is a WILD CARD as YOU GET TO CHOOSETo submit your WILDCARD artwork you’ll need to complete the following:
Capture your own interpretation of an English Riviera Coastal GEOPARK location
Photograph yourself and your NEW artwork at the chosen English Riviera Coastal GEOPARK location.
Add this photo to your social media using the hashtag #picturesquetorbay and mention @cabbagetreestudio
Email me at hello@clairejoharmer.com with the image of your work, the title, size and media by 28th March.
Arrange drop off before 4th April
The PICTURESQUE TORBAY art exhibition will be on display at Torre Abbey’s Learning Lab 5-10th MAY 2025. GET IN TOUCH if you're participating - I'd love to make sure there is space to display all submissions! Ping me an email at hello@clairejoharmer.com
It's going to be a wonderful exhibition of art interpretations with submissions from all ages and all levels of experience - a TRUE community celebration of people and place Remember to add your work to your social media using the hashtag #picturesquetorbay for our online gallery!
Why this project?
Inspired by my late Nanna. BIG Turner fan!
That's me - on the right!
Also the one who took me to see my first exhibitions at The National Gallery, Tate Britain, Hayward Gallery and the Royal Academy ... I recall (with a smile) awkward moments at a Dali exhibition in 1994 (I was only 15 and not ready to consider Dali's works with my Nanna), mesmerised in 1998 at age 18 by Bonnard's atmospheres, brush strokes and THAT colour palette! In my twenties Caravaggio left us both astounded and of course Tate's 'Turner, Whistler and Monet' was her favourite.
She told me that her parents honeymooned in Paignton and she hoped to come over one day to visit. By the time we moved, driving was in her past and then dementia took hold. She was always a champion for the arts and a pretty wonderful photographer in her own right. So - all in all I think she'd be pretty chuffed her granddaughter was embarking on on 'Picturesque Torbay' #torbayafterturner
If I were to paint you a picture
If I were to paint you a picture…..
If I were to paint you a Pop Art style piece it would burst with bold green Viscounts, reds & yellows of Tunnocks Caramel wafer bars & a huge Arsenal badge. There'd be a bottle of dry cider or ginger beer, pear drops in a tin and a Beryl Beavis birthday cake. Or maybe a Warhol-esque Queen Elizabeth II portrait or a Lancaster bomber with the DFC medal & Dam Busters scribed in Impact typeface emblazoned across the canvas.
If I were to paint a scene on water it would be a buzzing Dartmouth Regatta, the white cliffs of Dover or the burnt sienna coast of Budleigh Salterton. Maybe the seafarers mission in Felixstowe or I could channel Turner in a seascape oil of warm hues with the red ochre sails of a Thames Barge piercing the sunset sky.
If I were to follow the footsteps of Seurat or Lautrec I'd capture the Masquerade from the Phantom, the melodrama of Les Mis, the acrobatic Jellicle Cats or the Starlights on the stage in a painting just for you. Or maybe a Degas depiction with dancing sisters flinging themselves around your Regent Close living room to the album Abba Gold.
If I were to paint a figure it could be the silhouette of a Fiddler on the Roof, a portrait of Julie Andrews on the hills or on rooftops, Audrey Hepburn surrounded by flowers at the Covent Garden market. Or I could paint you, Nanna. You, poised with your SLR camera, taking time to set up the perfect shot in a National Trust estate. You in a London street, stood by a food cart, surrounded by the smokey haze as you offer coins in exchange for a paper bag full of roasted chestnuts.
If I were to create you a series inspired by Cezanne like his Card Players there'd be considered compositions with battles of Scrabble, Upwords, Solitaire & best of all....Othello! Or a still life of a lovingly laid dinner table with a hostess, napkin rings & an out of place yet perfectly understood copper kettle.
If I were to find a way to feature your friendships I'd take influence from Renoir & paint one of the Tab girls’ garden parties, Palmer's girls’ reunion, or a London lunch with girls from the bank. Maybe simply focus in on you and a friend in company, contemplation and conversation. It could be a display of female strength with Cassatt inspired sisters rolling up their sleeves ready for harvesting, or you, driving a tractor in Chedworth, wallpapering a wall or gently tending to the needs of a child in your care.
If I were to capture your love of nature I'd reflect on Monet & paint the waterlilies at Wateringbury or the spring blooms in your garden and the vegetable patch teaming with juicy red strawberries. All this overlooked by the oracle of an apple tree climbed by generations of cousins, siblings and sons.
If I were to paint you a picture.