Limn Studio Galleries

Rust Gallery

"Iron rusted is living but when pure or polished, is dead." ...Ruskin

The subject came to us one day when we went by train to Ravenglass where we found a large cast iron anchor half buried in the sand. It was a very bright day with the sun bringing out a whole range of colours. Anne was immediately attracted to the challenge of capturing the image as found, namely making every effort to replicate the colour combinations and textures. Anne's completed picture is the first on our Rust Gallery and has set the stage for searching out found objects for our collection to work from.

The second gallery item, our "Seahorse" photo, demonstrates how a random object found an inspire works of art once you focus on a subject. This image is actually of a flat piece of rusted metal discovered on a local beach. When we examined it more closely it revealed a clear image of a seahorse. We mounted the metal on a blue watercolour background and framed it.

Techniques for our rust paintings include combining pigments with artists' water colours to achieve colour matching, tonal values and textures.

Most of our pigments are in powder form and just need water to make them work like ordinary watercolours. A few exceptions involve collecting pigment in the form of stones.

We have collected a variety of objects from locks and fastenings to discarded garden implements and tools, together with parts of neglected farm machinery.

Our Rust Gallery

"Rust, far from spoiling, this form of iron is more virtuous, more useful and more noble, since without the tint of oxides of iron our whole world would be a place of ash grey." ...Ruskin

 

All measurements are in centimetres.

Copyright Notice: All images in this gallery are protected by international copyright laws and may not be copied, reproduced or used in any way without the artist's express permission in writing.

Photography by Mark Smith and Peter Tyson.