Varying sources of inspiration

One of these ends on Saturday, so hurry to the Young Gallery to look. Peter Glover's paintings chart his exploration of the ‘landscape of the mind’.

Charlotte Moreton’s work at Fisherton Mill, on the other hand, describes a very real landscape, the Galapagos Islands, and are the result of her experiences during a visit last year. It’s inevitable these two exhibitions will appeal to different people: both have a lot to offer.

Peter Glover is a veteran: now in his 80s and has been exploring a narrow set of symbols and motifs for a long time. He told me one canvas he ‘finished’ last month was actually started in the 80s. Glover works in his Wilton studio,surrounded by these canvasses, adding and subtracting as the years go byand his relationship with the work changes.

For me the chief attractions of his work are the layered background fields, the result of paint applied and then scraped away, and the roughly rendered landscape ‘windows’ in many paintings. Colour wheels and Picasso-esque forms also feature: some appeal and some don’t, but e Each work seems to present a puzzle for the viewer to solve.

Charlotte Moreton’s work involves paint, print, plaster cast, metal sculpture, wood carving, wicker and bronze, but she puts an individual stamp on each medium. Many people will be familiar with her birds modelled very simply from copper wire; particularly impressive in this show are the large albatrosses made from welded steel rods. They work well on this scale.

Moreton worked in environmental science before her reincarnation as an artist. The Galapagos trip clearly brought these two halves together to make a whole and lasting impressionand she is already looking to return. During last year’s trip she ran teaching workshops in the islander’s schoolsand this may well become the basis for making a future visit possible.

The trip that brought about this exhibition was entirely self-funded, but she should feel confident about getting something back through art sales. Moreton’s prices always seem very reasonable, as they are in this show.

I was particularly impressed with her landscape watercolours which have freshness and immediacy.

While much of the trip was used in gathering research for later use in the studio, these watercolours were done on the spot and under time pressure.

This always brings out the best in good artists in my opinion. The Fisherton Mill show ends on June 6.

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