A Slice of Reality .. abstract landscapes paintings as a window to the world

Inspired by nature and earth’s very own

Kevin S. Martin is an artist who works in multiple media, and his latest works tend to be oil or acrylic paintings in sections on box canvases, using rich colours and tactile texturing.

“Kevin, many of your recent works are paintings that span multiple canvases. What’s the idea behind this?”

I’m going through a phase of painting abstract landscapes. They aren’t landscapes in the traditional sense of the word, as they are very much open to interpretation by the viewer.

Engaging as many senses as possible is an important element of my art. From my own point of view, this is one of the reasons I love working in oils. The rich colours engage the eye, the thick, sensual nature of the paint engages the sense of touch, and the smell of oil paints – well, there’s nothing quite like it!

This is also where the multiple canvases comes in. The sensation you feel when you look at one of these “sectioned” works of art is quite different than that produced by a painting on a traditional single canvas. And again, using deep box canvases provides a sense of depth that gives a different feeling again.

“Three Moons” is a recent painting that hopefully demonstrates this:

… but of course a photograph doesn’t do justice to the actual piece of art!

When I create a painting in sections like this, it’s like a window onto the world – it’s a way of hinting at the relative nature of our perception of the world around us, which is limited by our experiences and background.

“What are your favourite media and techniques these days?”

Oils are always one of my favourite painting media, but I also work with acrylics a lot these days, for the faster drying times. I like using texturing materials to give my works a palpable 3D effect.

I’ve produced a series of paintings that are based around rich golds and reds, with heavy texturing, and the use of metallic gold paint to highlight the peaks and really bring the paintings to life.

Here’s one of the finished pieces:

I was fortunate enough that a number of these paintings were selected for publication by International Graphics in Germany. (International Graphics)

“How did art feature in your life as a child?”

I’ve always identified as an artist – one of my very earliest memories is of drawing crayon animals on the wall at school! I’ve been drawing, painting, and sculpting ever since.

My mother’s encouragement was very important to me; although we were not a well-off family, she somehow found a way to pay for me to attend weekly art evening classes with a tutor. I was 10 years old at the time, and the lessons were an excellent introduction to important drawing techniques that stood me in good stead as I progressed. I’ll always remember his lessons in “drawing the perfect ellipse”, as it was an experience that taught me how important practise, practise, and more practise is in order to progress as an artist.

By the time I was 14, I was heavily into oil painting, experimenting with landscapes and still life paintings, a phase that continued throughout high school. During this time I began to be interested in surrealism – Salvador Dali’s melting clocks were a huge inspiration to me. The music of the time also began to affect my artwork, particularly Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, which was constantly playing on the radio, and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. Listening to inspiring music while creating is a great way to get into the flow and enjoy the process.

After high school I attended the local Derbyshire art college, where new vistas were opened up to me and my tutor, David, led me down new artistic pathways. He was a young trendy guy who shared his excitement about using new and different media to create unique pieces of art, and taught me how to look at things from an artistic “out of the box” angle.

The lessons were as varied as they were inspiring. One day we’d be out painting “en plein”, crouched over our easels in the cold wind, painting wintry studies of the bleak, but impressive, Derbyshire dales, and the next day we might be sketching nude models in the studio. It was all good!

After art college I moved down to live in various parts of Cornwall and Devon for a time, and the contrast in scenery was very inspiring.

“You mentioned surrealism as an inspiration – does this still feature in your work?”

Funnily enough, I’m working on a very surreal painting at the moment:

… and while many of my recent paintings would not be classified as surreal, there is always a certain influence that’s never far from the surface for me, and, as well as Salvador Dali, modern artists like David Hockney have had a big impact on my work.

Kevin’s online contemporary art gallery can be viewed at: Buckingham Contemporary Online Art Gallery