Wild Swimming - an Exploration in Paint by Jane Boswell

The natural unpredictability of the sea in all its glory has inspired well known artist Jane Boswell to create a collection of paintings called Wild Swimming. Her exhibition of bold coloured works depicting the sea and rugged coast can be seen throughout August at the Joanna Field Gallery at the Torch Theatre.

Jane, a member of The Pembrokeshire Craft Makers and the South Wales Potters has exhibited extensively throughout Wales. A self- employed artist and ceramicist, her creative responses to place and time are deeply affected by the seasons and the annual cycle is a very instinctive part of her work.

“Defining my art is a journey into my soul and my relationship with the sea, and especially with wild and beautiful places. These responses to the world around me are intertwined with memory, both sensory and emotional through the tactile application of paint, the manipulation of form, the use of colour and light, layered with the addition of words, poetry and mark-making,” explained Jane who graduated from  Loughborough College of Art and Design with a B.A (Hons) in Fine Art Painting.

“Reflections on summer, bright blues, strong shadows, bold contrasts of dark and light can lose their impetus when in the depths of winter where the palette becomes a more subdued affair. A change of season is part of that coastal journey in both time and place. A bright colour against a dark shape, a moon over water, waves crashing on the shore, and again a peaceful still ocean, a house, rocks and high cliffs, boats and  harbours, all become stored in my memory along with the other senses of taste, smell and sound,” added Jane who has current work at the West Gate Gallery in Pembroke and throughout the county of Pembrokeshire with Pembrokeshire Craft Makers.

Wild swimming throughout the year, no matter the weather, has gone global, having started here in Pembrokeshire with the Bluetits. Jane is one of those swimmers who has been inspired by what the sea has to offer, and this comes through in her paintings.

“My love of wild swimming has had a profound effect on my work in recent times, where I have explored the sensations of going into cold water, through application of paint, and through my choice of gestural marks and layers of colour,” said Jane.

Jane’s paintings are semi-abstract in style and are painted on wooden panels, canvas or paper using acrylics, mixed media, and recently, watercolour. These artworks express the joy, and deep connection she feels with the coast.

Jane added: “I enjoy a mystery of incompleteness within my work that is open to individual interpretation by the viewer, eliciting a response that allows a spaciousness of thought, evoking other memories and other times, personal to them yet a journey shared through the pictorial image.”

Wild Swimming – an Exploration in Paint by Jane Boswell can be seen throughout August at the Torch Theatre during Box Office opening hours.