(Front & Back Cover) 1. Vineyard near St Jean Pla de CortOil on Panel, 24 x 48 inches

2. Picture of Edward Beale

Foreword

The collection of paintings that make up Edward Beale’s exhibition is like a diary of months spent working from a roof overlooking the Thamesat Lambeth Reach as well as travelling to the Hebrides, Derbyshire, Provence, Catalonia and the Dordogne. Each location has particularcharacteristics which help or hinder but always affect his manner of working the paint. The roof offered a vantage point within a few streets ofthe artist’s studio yet revealed new panoramas over the Thames and the city beyond. The few days of heavy snow in January gave a rareopportunity for painting in a blizzard. Edward found that the paint tended to become powdery and crystalline and difficult to manipulate withoutadding more linseed oil to maintain its fluidity. He found he could use the dry, raw appearance of the paint that the conditions had created.

The Hebrides present special challenges for painting outside. Conditions are rarely perfect. Most often the practical difficulty must be overcomeof preventing the easel from blowing over in winds that come straight off the Atlantic. Rain can be constant, or perhaps more infuriating andintermittent. A painting begun in bright sunshine might end in a squall. Even a little sunshine in this terrain intensifies the colours to greatbrilliance and this can be seen in Edward’s paintings of Coll Beach and the mountains of Harris.

The mountains of the Pyrenees provide a dynamic subject. They can be seen in many of Edward’s Catalonian paintings. The terracotta clay soil,palms and cacti, together with the strong light, make exotic contrasts in this work.

While in the greener region of the Dordogne he visited the medieval town of St Emilion in the heart of the wine growing area. Its parchmentcoloured stone buildings now accommodate a modern way of life, but to draw them triggers the imagination and a sense of its history. At the topof the steep streets from the old town walls the countryside spreads out in tidy ranks of vines. Tractors, as narrow as they are tall, move along therows tending the crops.

Several places around the perimeter of St Emilion give an unimpeded view of the town with its distinctive spire rising between the vine coveredslopes. The place from which Edward works must have a space for a vehicle, be away from busy roads and have shade to prevent the sun shiningdirectly onto the painting. He found a place at the edge of a vineyard where recent rain had made the fertile soil into a glutinous mud.

The warm May afternoon was perfect for landscape painting. Clouds gathered over the town which was now a series of small shapes along thehorizon. It nestled in the landscape. The task was to make these shapes significant enough to read as St Emilion and to show how the fields fellaway into the distance and how the sky had become the most dramatic part of the view. Light changing constantly from strong and crisp, subduedand soft, to dark and dramatic presents a quandary which forces the painter to make decisions about what to leave out rather than attempting toput everything in. It is about trying different marks to suggest in two dimensions equivalents for a three dimensional world in order to accomplishan accurate rendering of what he observes and experiences.

Edward’s method of working involves a lot of paint applied in a robust vigorous way. A small aluminium table serves as a palette with tins ofpaint lined up along the back. Bigger tins of white are placed nearby on the ground. The board has been prepared with wooden battening aroundthe edges on the back to enable the finished painting to be handled and then hung on a wall to dry. The front surface is covered with an off-white emulsion ground. Just before he begins he covers the surface in linseed oil to make sure the paint stays wet as he works. He chooses theshape and size of the board and then quickly decides on the composition which is sketched in brisk movements using blue or crimson paint.Working with large brushes he paints wet into wet. With sustained and intense concentration he orchestrates planes, edges, form, tone and colourin a way which owes nothing to photography and everything to observation.

‘It’s about the feel of the day,’ he says.

Edward sets out to keep faith with the medium, by not trying to disguise the painting process. He has this to say about the special paint he uses:

‘The things I first liked about this paint were its malleable viscosity and how well it lent itself to impasto painting. The paint is best used boldly.I use heavily loaded brushes to add an element of unpredictability which I like to exploit. I aim for a sense of energy within a painting. The densityof the colours and sensuousness of the paint on the brush are other important qualities. It dries with a sheen that I like very much. Its sheerabundance is liberating. I enjoy being able to use paint in such large quantities.

I was first told about the paint in 1968 at Camberwell School of Art by tutors who were already using it. It was recommended to me because ofits high quality and reasonable price. The twenty-eight pound kegs (now five litres) of paint were a revelation to me. I would order several tinsat a time. I always felt a thrill of excitement to see them arrive by lorry all the way from Sheffield. I continued to use the paint through my yearsas a student at the Royal Academy and have been using it more or less ever since those days.’

Claire Edwards, MA, (Phil) July 2009

have great pleasure in inviting you to

A n E x h i b i t i o n o f

N e w P a i n t i n g sb y

E d w a r d B e a l e

Exhibition dates:

Wednesday 30th September

to

Saturday 24th October 2009

3. Traffic over Lambeth Bridge, Oil on Panel, 20 x 24 inches

4. Nocturne at Albert Embankment, Oil on Panel, 20 x 24 inches

5. Lambeth Bridge from Albert Embankment, Oil on Panel, 20 x 30 inches

6. Changeable sky over the Houses of ParliamentOil on Panel, 12 x 24 inches

7. Thames at Millbank, eveningOil on Panel, 12 x 26 inches

8. Pink cyclamen in a white planter, Oil on Panel, 20 x 15 inches 9. Flowers in a Spanish vase, Oil on Panel, 26 x 18 inches

10. Chrysanthemums in glass jug with lemons, Oil on Panel, 26 x 20 inches 11. Flowers with lilies and grapefruit, Oil on Panel, 24 x 32 inches

12. Edward Beale, Barge going downstream towards Westminster Bridge Pencil Drawing, 8 x 111⁄2 inches

13. Edward Beale, Rain over Parliament Pencil Drawing, 8 x 111⁄2 inches

14. Edward Beale, Dredger approaching Lambeth BridgePencil Drawing, 8 x 111⁄2 inches

15. Edward Beale, Lambeth landscape with train from Waterloo Pencil Drawing, 8 x 111⁄2 inches

16. Snow over the Thames, Oil on Panel, 24 x 36 inches

17. View from Lambeth High Street, Oil on Panel, 24 x 28 inches

18. Across Lambeth High Street from Albert Embankment, Oil on Panel, 24 x 48 inches

Picture of Edward Beale

19. Vase of flowers on green stripes, Oil on Panel, 201⁄2 x 34 inches 20. Flowers in a red vase with yellow background, Oil on Panel, 24 x 20 inches

21. Approaching storm at Mas Magrana, Oil on Panel, 21 x 24 inches

22. Apple trees in blossom at Mas Magrana, Oil on Panel, 28 x 36 inches

23. Bonfire at Mas Magrana with Mimose, Oil on Panel, 20 1/2 x 24 inches

24. Autumn landscape from Ceret roof, Oil on Panel, 24 x 28 inches

25. Cap d’Antibes from St Paul de Vence, Oil on Panel, 10 x 18 inches

26. Ploughed field near St Aulaye, Oil on Panel, 12 x 24 inches

27. Autumn view of the Pyrenees, Oil on Panel, 12 x 24 inches

28. Sunset over Millbank, Oil on Panel, 8 x 12 inches 29. Towards Vauxhall Bridge, Oil on Panel, 15 x 25 inches

30. Les Hauts de Ceret in Spring, Oil on Panel, 24 x 48 inches

31. Flowers in miniature vase against blue with yellow stripeOil on Panel, 12 x 93⁄4 inches

32. Purple orchid with grapefruit Oil on Panel, 18 x 24 inches

33. Lilies in red vase with grapefruits, Oil on Panel, 28 x 36 inches

34. Canigou Snowcapped, Oil on Panel, 24 x 30 inches 35. Fallow Field near Vives, Oil on Panel, 24 x 30 inches

36. Cork Oaks near Ceret, Oil on Panel, 24 x 35 inches 37. Spring afternoon at Mas Magrana, Oil on Panel, 28 x 36 inches

38. Cherry tree in Autumn, Mas MagranaOil on Panel, 20 x 21 inches

39. Cottages at Achmor, Oil on Panel, 14 x 23 inches

40. The Old Woman of the Moor from Achmor, Oil on Panel, 13 x 23 inches

41. The Bay at Lemreway, Oil on Panel, 24 x 36 inches

42. Sunset over Battersea, Oil on Panel, 12 x 24 inches

43. Barge moving downstream Oil on Panel, 10 x 16 inches

44. Incoming tide at Coll Beach, Oil on Panel, 131⁄2 x 22 inches

45. Afternoon at Coll Beach, Oil on Panel, 24 x 48 inches

46. Boat alongside barge near Canary Wharf (Docks 27) Oil on Panel, 24 x 48 inches

47. Derelict Cottage near Les Granges, Oil on Panel, 24 x 36 inches

48. Orchid with grapefruits against sky blue, Oil on Panel, 28 x 36 inches

49. Still life with flowers in a green jug against blue, Oil on Panel, 24 x 30 inches

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