Ashley Jackson: The Yorkshire Artist

A Lifetime of Inspiration Captured in Watercolour

Ashley Jackson

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Local History
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781473898004
• eBook ISBN: 9781473898028
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art Techniques

Ashley Jackson The Yorkshire Artist' contains a collection of paintings that have been personally chosen by the artist to bring together his personal memories and intimate reflections of the emotions and atmosphere that he has captured in each watercolour painting. As he explains, 'All artists paint what inspires them, what allows them to capture what they see with their eyes with their hands and heart. We all have differing inspirations, mediums and connections with our subject mine is the Yorkshire Moors.' From the open moorland of Marsden Moor to the inhabited landscape of Whitby, this book brims with what Ashley does best; capturing the atmospheric skies and drama of the landscape. As Ashley explains, 'I have strived throughout my life to witness and portray every mood swing of nature as she takes a stand against all that the elements throw at her, whether that be rain, wind, snow or fire.' You will truly find Ashley Jackson and his 'Yorkshire Mistress', as he calls the Yorkshire landscape, laid bare in these stunning paintings.

Autumn Solitude

Alone with my thoughts and mistress, the moor.

You are never truly alone on the moor, with the wind blowing through your hair, feeling the sun on your face, for your inner self is with you and your soul will talk to you in spirit.

The sun will burn you

The rain will wet you,

The wind will chill you,

But only people will make you cry

So paint what you feel and not

What will sell.

(Ashley Jackson, 1962)

Earth to Earth, Life’s Pathway

I have tried to capture a strong reminder of how small we are in the grand scheme of life. Mother Nature is as harsh as snow blizzards on an isolated moor, or as gentle as morning sunlight on the grass, but of all life’s certainties, she will carry on without us.

I am still hungry and art is still the blood that courses through my veins, but if I died tomorrow I know that I have lived . . . (Ashley Jackson, 2010)

Fire on Saddleworth Moor

Although most fires are destructive, moorland fires, when started for the right reasons and not arson, are a rejuvenating process. From out of the ashes new growths seek the newly-created daylight. Previously smothered by old growth, the new is given the chance of life.

Ma, Look what they have done to my moor

I do believe that climate change is occurring all the time and will continue to occur when we have all passed on. The Earth is a new planet and is constantly changing. As I have been upon these moors for over fifty years I have only seen miniscule changes to the landscape. Global warming is taxation and scaremongering: man is destroying the world helped by 25 square feet of concrete below each turbine. What happens to this when the windmill is no longer productive, who will remove this from our landscape? This is money-making vandalism.

Clearing Mist

When painting Clearing Mist I could feel the ‘Spirit of the Moor’ descending on the landscape, with a glow of light one can’t forget. The light within this painting is the white of the paper for I use no white paint . . . ever.

When All have Gone Home

The close of the day, when darkness descends and night rules the foreboding moors.

Low Cloud Lifting

When up here on my own, painting away from the madding crowd, I was overcome by a feeling that I could not truly explain; that the low cloud was swirling on the moor, giving me the feeling that God was present. I have tried to capture the mysteriousness of the event within this painting.

Power and the Passion

Turner is the master of all skies: I look for the light as Turner did and most of all I look for my mistress on the moor. Working in the, Great Cathedral, of the open air, I try to capture the echoes in the sky, looking through a tunnel to focus the eye moving within the painting. There are more than thirty washes of colour within this painting: it is only through my years of knowledge of which colours are transparent and those that are opaque that allows all the individual colours to be seen and not end as one muddy mess.

This was the central painting to the ‘Power and the Passion’ exhibition, a one-man show throughout all three galleries in The Mall Galleries, London, in celebration of my 70th year. It was my vision to showcase a small number of my largest works, often 5ft by 4ft in their mounted and framed size with a paintings-space of white wall left remaining between each. Yes, I know as a Yorkshireman I could have filled the walls with work, but I wished each of the limited number of paintings that I personally chose to be an invitation to view the Yorkshire landscape, to see Yorkshire through my eyes, heart and soul. The individual paintings were more important than the overall number on display, for each one was to speak to the person standing in front of it, to imprint a memory and emotion. Benches were provided for such personal reflection. The wildlife artist David Shepherd was most generous on his visit to the exhibition, commenting of my paintings that, ‘No one could paint watercolours to the size and depth as Ashley Jackson’.

The exhibition returned to Yorkshire to Temple Newsam House, Leeds, in time to celebrate my birthday on 22 October 2010.

When the Curtain Comes Down

I seem morbid, but I have always had my inner self, in other words my soul.

I have been fortunate to have this passion and light in life, this painting reminds me of my finale – when the curtain comes down. On this day, you could not only visibly see the darkness descend but with it came a cold dampness that chilled you through to the bone.

Time is for ever

There is no death, only

a change of place:

to see and feel the moor

see light and feel and

smell the bracken

let alone paint it

is indeed an honour.

(Ashley Jackson, 1966)

Chasing Light

As a boy I used to play a game where I would sit on the wall and watch the shadow of the clouds racing across the landscape, chasing the contours. I always felt that the shadows were chasing the light. For an artist, light is the essence of your painting, for without it you have no shape or colour. I still chase that light . . .

Passing Storms

As an artist I have been privileged to view the moors with an honest clarity: the drama of the sky with an approaching storm, the crispness of fresh-fallen snow underfoot or the damp chill of drizzling rain. The landscape is more than a passing view from a car window – it is our heritage, culture and, more personally, it forms part of our thoughts and feelings. The moving tunnel of light reminds us that as bad as they may seem all storms will pass and, like the farmhouse on the...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword by Professor Bob Cryan
• Dedication
• Preface by Claudia Berettoni
• Introduction
• The Paintings
• Biography
• Final Words from Ashley
• Index of Paintings Available to View as Prints in the Gallery
• Appendix
• Photograph Credits