Lisbane artist to display paintings

Lisbane artist to display paintings

18 September 2019

A STUNNING display of paintings by Lisbane artist Harry Foy, capturing the breathtaking beauty of parts of Europe and Asia, go on public display next month.

After a nine-month trip to Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia, Sri Lanka, Greece, Rome and Paris, the renowned artist is preparing to show 33 of his plein air oil paintings in his studio in the village.

While away, Harry painted over 100 paintings and has now selected a number for an exhibition entitled ‘There and Back Again’ His paintings are impressionistic in style and painted in the open air generally in one sitting.

Harry revealed that the ‘map and open road’ have always appealed to him, explaining that in his late teens he thought about going around the world by bike, but never made the trip.

Early last year, Harry and his wife planned a trip to visit family in Australia and New Zealand which evolved into nine months away from home and the option of painting in exotic locations began to creep in.

“I packed enough canvases, brushes and paints to keep me going and loaded these into a rucksack and set off around South East Asia and then to Sri Lanka and Europe,” he continued.

He recalled that Vietnam was “quite amazing” although at that time it was busy as his visit coincided with Vietnamese New Year with all the celebrations that go with it. Harry also spent some time around Sapa, a mountain tourist town and it was then on to a rural village area to stay among local people.

Pointing to one of his paintings from Sri Lanka, the artist explained that this area had been badly affected by the 2014 tsunami. 

Harry stayed with a family and asked about the impact of the disaster on that part of the island with a lady explaining that the water didn’t come as a wave, like many other places which had been devastated, but just a quickly rising water level.

Tragically, the woman lost a family member who was sick in bed at the time and had a traumatic time when she couldn’t find her three-month-old baby girl. Trapped by the water, the baby was passed over a high garden wall to a total stranger. All that day the baby was lost but was eventually found safe on a high roof top in an animal hutch.

Towards the end of the nine-month holiday, Harry spent two months visiting and painting in Malaysia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, The Greek Islands, Rome and Paris.

Harry said his late father had painted semi-professionally up until the 1970s, revealing that as a child he stood at his shoulder, carefully watching the squinted-eye brush strokes going on the canvas. 

The artist said these memories come flooding back when he paints, remembering the 10-year-old boy at his father’s side.

He continued: “My paintings are plein air works done outside on location. There tends to be a different state of mind when painting outside with many things to contend with including the sun, wind, rain, changing light, movement in the sky, flies, and selfie taking onlookers. My exhibition contains scenes which were totally new to me and ones I very much enjoyed capturing on canvas.”

A retired surveyor, Harry spent much of his working life making straight lines on paper, explaining it has taken some years to get that out of his head as his paintings are impressionistic.

While in Australia, the artist revealed that he took time out travelling by camper van to seek out new inspirations in the outback and to record the adventures kept a blog on his website, http://www.harryfoy.co.uk/blog. 

In northern New South Wales, he stayed a while in Lightning Ridge, a black opal mining town which he described as “another world,” a bit like a Wild West frontier town but with all the modern services needed.

Later, Harry went to Sydney and then to the Grampians, a lovely range of mountains three hours from Melbourne, describing the scenes as “just breathtaking, with gum trees and a blue distant haze in the air’”— everything that had a magnetic attraction for the painter in him.

He also revealed that one of the biggest problems he faced while away was finding good shops for painting supplies and white spirit.

“Some liquids sold seemed highly volatile but definitely of no use for thinning my paint,” he said, adding that the things he missed most were Comber potatoes with butter and the rain.

Harry’s exhibition launches on October 25 at 7pm at his Lisbane studio and continues from October 26 to 30 between 7pm and 9pm.

A catalogue is available via a link on Facebook: Harry Foy art or at harryfoy.co.uk/s/catalogue.pdf  with exhibition location details on the catalogue. All paintings are for sale prior to the exhibition and can be viewed by arrangement.