We’re looking forwards to hosting A Brush with the Stour by Andrew Rowe at the Harwich Arts & Heritage Centre (Main Hall) from Wednesday 8th January til mid February.
A BRUSH WITH THE STOUR!
All my life I’ve lived in proximity to a river. Not ‘on the river’ but near enough to take notice. For 26 years it was the Colne; then, since 1967, the Stour.
Solomon is reported as saying “all the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is not full.” (Ecclesiastes 1:7) but it was the proximity and the picturesque, rather than the philosophic that drew me to the beauty of the Stour and its place in Constable Country, and simply because I am fortunate to live here!
I took up oil painting in retirement, attending classes, in 1998 and eventually under John Theobald. Beginning with drawing and watercolour and finally settling on Oil painting as the medium of choice. I have found such joy in pursuing art, a joy which had been half hidden in schooldays, quietly nudged me through two careers and has been blissfully explored in retirement.
The paintings on view here are a few from a series from up and down the river Stour from its source on the Cambridge/Suffolk border, through the Stour Valley with its historic towns, the quiet joy of Dedham vale, to the busy, wide estuary at Harwich with all its calling and potential for ‘regions afar’.
It has been a lovely project for over 15 years, accomplished, for the most part ‘en plein air’ in the company of friends who shared the compulsion of painting.
I hope you find some art that speaks to you of the wonder of life, light, and the natural beauty of the lovely part of the country we live in.
Andrew Rowe. December 2024
