In Conversation With Artist Suki Wapshott
Contemporary Landscape Painter, Suki Wapshott. Her work is inspired by Cornwall’s spectacular North Coast
Suki Wapshott, a painter known for her evocative landscapes and abstract works, will exhibit pieces inspired by The Point at our cabins for the next month. Her art, shaped by Cornwall’s rugged coast and a deep connection to poetry, captures the landscape's changing light and shifting seasons.
Based in Polzeath, Suki’s daily walks through the scenery influence her minimalist yet expressive style. Our upcoming Open Day offers an opportunity to experience her latest works. In her own words, Suki shares her deep connection to the landscape, revealing how it shapes her artistic style and inspires her creations.
“As a painter, The Point and its surroundings provide me with beautiful vistas, undulations and ever-changing colour. The view across the wildflower meadow on the old driving range is the perfect foreground for painted impressions of Pentire Point, thus joining views of Polzeath and The Point together. So many aspects of the natural world on and around The Point inspire me, and by constantly revisiting and absorbing the view, I begin to distil aspects of the landscape onto canvas.
Meadow. Inspired by the wildflower meadow at The Point.
The term ‘view’ references so many aspects involved in the creation of my work: over the past few weeks for example, as late summer turns to early autumn, new variations of natural colour - the bloom on a ripening sloe, the soft red-brown of a Roe deer’s coat, and the silvering underside of the last remaining leaves on the trees – have led me to create works in a rich, earthy palette with a touch of steel grey. I use this palette to remind me of those colours and the sounds of the season, a pheasant taking flight, and the scents of autumn.
On the footpath behind Roserrow Houses, I see winter frost on the seed heads silhouetted against the rising sun, then in early spring the quiet awakening of the trees, budding and stretching their limbs, until the summer swallows arrive, and then the stubbled fields of harvest time lead me back towards the wildness of winter.
Invariably, the daily ritual of walking our hounds Rosie and Lyra has an impact on my creativity, as much of my work comes from within my mind, from my imagination, inspired by those walks in the landscape. What stands out most to me in this landscape is Cornwall’s uniquely pure light. When you consider what the sky alone lends to an artist in this wide open, coastal environment, it is hard not to mention light: sunrises, sunsets, cloud formations, sand, sea, rocks, and trees bent low as they grow with the prevailing wind, all these things and more stand out as individual forms, enhanced by that purifying light, and together they inspire me to paint.
Aquamarine. Limited Edition Giclée Print
We have lived in North Cornwall now for over twenty years, and the scenery and seasonal changes this affords us are priceless gifts. My early works as an artist were figurative, shaped by the land and sea, but over the years that need to replicate a view has faded, and now my inner responses to the landscape direct my style of painting and allow me to express myself in endlessly varying colourways, and even to totally reinterpret what I see: my work 'Aquamarine' takes the stylised approach of looking through and across the sea towards the horizon, while the popping-candy colour of my painting 'New Years Eve, Polzeath’ suggests the joyful sights and sound of fireworks celebrations.
When asked what I hope people might find in my work, I say, “Peace, tranquility, and traces of their own memories in my quieter, landscape-based works, and a sense of awe and the power of the ocean in my seascapes.”
Suki Wapshott, 2024
