Paintings of Cornwall

Paintings of Cornwall by Tom Rickman.

That west thing. From the railway bridge in Hampton, to the coastline of Lyme Bay, the gaze out from Beer Head, the Tors of Dartmoor, that western thing is always prevalent and Cornwall seemed at the time to be the furthest to quench that thirst, dream. Even now having arrived here, I still reach further, Scilly and Recently Kerry in Ireland. To Chase the sun’s path.

In 1991 me and my partner Sally Crabtree put a note in the local Mousehole shop – Artist and Poet seek winter let to rent. It was answered and in 1992 we moved down for the winter which then turned into decades. Our first place in the village was the tiny Phoenix Cottage. We had the top floor as our work rooms, I had a stable door out to a small balcony and then away across the roof tops to the sea. I even had a sail boat in the harbour. we lived off porridge, mackerel and sea air.

Cornwall has been a great place to work, apart from the obvious artistic ‘community’ it is has a great balance of wildness and the need to carry on and exist in it. 27 years ago we bought the Old Sunday School, raised our two children Daisy And Milo and carried on working. Although I go elsewhere to paint as well, Cornwall is a great place to return to , it still surprises, it is a kind of home.