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Light, glorious light is the undertone of Colin Fraser's creations. Light that caresses the petals of a flower, light that renders a simple white cloth into a luminescent creature draped across a chair, light breaking through a window and grazing succulently ripe cherries overflowing in a bowl, light as a languid blanket over a slumbering figure. This is Colin Fraser's world - a world of endless summers by the garden and lazy, blue-skied days…of the juicy ripeness of fruits and siestas sneaked into a long afternoon of leisure.
Born in Glasgow in 1956, Colin Fraser has always been enchanted by light - drawn by the way sunlight breaks through a glass window or an open door, how the colours in a room can change as the light hits it, how space becomes more vibrant and shadows seem to stretch for light is in motion and never still. “A sudden flash of light, frozen in the moment, produces a combination of colour which stirs up an excitement like seeing something for the first time. To hold on to that almost unattainable ‘mood’ is the struggle that drives me when I paint”, says Colin.
Since his first exhibition in Brighton in 1978, the artist has built a reputation as a sensitive interpreter of colour and light. A master of light and shadow, Colin works primarily in egg tempera. A medium used by the likes of Michelangelo that originates from the Middle Ages, egg tempera is a time-honoured method whereby powdered pigment is mixed with egg yolk and water. Using egg tempera is extraordinarily time-consuming. Ever square inch of the surface must be constructed little by little, layer by layer. The paint dries instantaneously and unlike oils, cannot be manipulated. Also, the colours can be unpredictable for they remain basically transparent, which means one never knows exactly the final colour until it has dried on the surface. Although not the most endearing medium, Colin perceives its restrictions in a different light, saying that the “restrictions have been paramount in helping me be more direct in my approach to the work, with the instant drying and transparency of the paint actively contributing to a higher level of spontaneity of execution”. The artist was also drawn to the tempera’s vitality which reminds him “of the dynamism of the sun – never static, always changing”. With such a high degree of luminosity, tempera gives all colours, including black, the apparent ability to ‘glow’. By choosing this medium, Colin is able to capture the serene and playful mood that light evokes. “Observed light is usually what attracts me into the process of painting,” he says. “The surface of a work painted in tempera simply has a unique glow which cannot be imitated in other mediums”.
Although a proud Scot, Colin headed for Brighton to study fine art before the translucent light of the Scandinavian sun lured him to Sweden. Living with his wife and children in Lund in southern Sweden for the last two decades, Colin’s work has developed an extraordinary quality due to the changing moods of the sun. “What I am concerned with,” he says, “is a world that is ongoing, not one frozen as in a snapshot. It is the feel of the thing, the mood if you like, that the presence of sunlight gives, which fascinates me. You can never pin down what a specific ‘mood’ is”.
An arduous process, each painting begins with an idea or a chance observation that the artist believes has the potential to develop into a complete work. Then follow the weeks of experimentation with arrangements and many preparatory drawings. The aim of all this, says Colin, is to “build to place where the objects almost cease to exist and become secondary to the feeling they evoke”. True to form, once the preparation is complete, Colin paints the final work without the subject before him.
His subjects…flowers, still life studies, gardenscapes and nudes are faithful to actual scenes – uncluttered and untampered with. Many of his scenes seem to possess a stage-like quality with chairs, diaphanous wraps and trays of fruit places strategically awaiting the arrival of the players. Known for his singular still lifes, Colin describes them as the “ultimate expression of the personal”. He believes that the painter “chooses the content and the arrangement, and then it becomes a question of striving to achieve a particular mood. To build a place where the objects almost cease to exist and become secondary to the feeling they evoke”.
People also play an important role in Colin’s work, if only by suggestion where objects can act as clues testifying to a recent presence by the hints of abandonment where humanity has left the scene. In his nudes, the most important feeling is that of repose and tranquillity, echoed by the sensual drapery, lace curtains and fanciful sound of the breeze stirring up the couch grass to a whispering. Hardly ever do the subjects gaze out of the picture. It is almost as if we have stumbled upon a private moment.
For Colin, the painter’s task is to observe and attempt to express the varying character, expression and feeling of what he sees. This involves not just looking at things but ‘seeing’ in the terms of paint. Painting is thus a language of the eye or the ‘feeling’ mind. It is this expression of feeling that distinguishes still life from photography. A camera can capture a moment, but only a painting can conjure a mood and a sense of the passage in time. This very reason explains Colin’s enduring appeal.
Born in Glasgow in 1956, Colin Fraser has always been enchanted by light - drawn by the way sunlight breaks through a glass window or an open door, how the colours in a room can change as the light hits it, how space becomes more vibrant and shadows seem to stretch for light is in motion and never still. “A sudden flash of light, frozen in the moment, produces a combination of colour which stirs up an excitement like seeing something for the first time. To hold on to that almost unattainable ‘mood’ is the struggle that drives me when I paint”, says Colin.
Since his first exhibition in Brighton in 1978, the artist has built a reputation as a sensitive interpreter of colour and light. A master of light and shadow, Colin works primarily in egg tempera. A medium used by the likes of Michelangelo that originates from the Middle Ages, egg tempera is a time-honoured method whereby powdered pigment is mixed with egg yolk and water. Using egg tempera is extraordinarily time-consuming. Ever square inch of the surface must be constructed little by little, layer by layer. The paint dries instantaneously and unlike oils, cannot be manipulated. Also, the colours can be unpredictable for they remain basically transparent, which means one never knows exactly the final colour until it has dried on the surface. Although not the most endearing medium, Colin perceives its restrictions in a different light, saying that the “restrictions have been paramount in helping me be more direct in my approach to the work, with the instant drying and transparency of the paint actively contributing to a higher level of spontaneity of execution”. The artist was also drawn to the tempera’s vitality which reminds him “of the dynamism of the sun – never static, always changing”. With such a high degree of luminosity, tempera gives all colours, including black, the apparent ability to ‘glow’. By choosing this medium, Colin is able to capture the serene and playful mood that light evokes. “Observed light is usually what attracts me into the process of painting,” he says. “The surface of a work painted in tempera simply has a unique glow which cannot be imitated in other mediums”.
Although a proud Scot, Colin headed for Brighton to study fine art before the translucent light of the Scandinavian sun lured him to Sweden. Living with his wife and children in Lund in southern Sweden for the last two decades, Colin’s work has developed an extraordinary quality due to the changing moods of the sun. “What I am concerned with,” he says, “is a world that is ongoing, not one frozen as in a snapshot. It is the feel of the thing, the mood if you like, that the presence of sunlight gives, which fascinates me. You can never pin down what a specific ‘mood’ is”.
An arduous process, each painting begins with an idea or a chance observation that the artist believes has the potential to develop into a complete work. Then follow the weeks of experimentation with arrangements and many preparatory drawings. The aim of all this, says Colin, is to “build to place where the objects almost cease to exist and become secondary to the feeling they evoke”. True to form, once the preparation is complete, Colin paints the final work without the subject before him.
His subjects…flowers, still life studies, gardenscapes and nudes are faithful to actual scenes – uncluttered and untampered with. Many of his scenes seem to possess a stage-like quality with chairs, diaphanous wraps and trays of fruit places strategically awaiting the arrival of the players. Known for his singular still lifes, Colin describes them as the “ultimate expression of the personal”. He believes that the painter “chooses the content and the arrangement, and then it becomes a question of striving to achieve a particular mood. To build a place where the objects almost cease to exist and become secondary to the feeling they evoke”.
People also play an important role in Colin’s work, if only by suggestion where objects can act as clues testifying to a recent presence by the hints of abandonment where humanity has left the scene. In his nudes, the most important feeling is that of repose and tranquillity, echoed by the sensual drapery, lace curtains and fanciful sound of the breeze stirring up the couch grass to a whispering. Hardly ever do the subjects gaze out of the picture. It is almost as if we have stumbled upon a private moment.
For Colin, the painter’s task is to observe and attempt to express the varying character, expression and feeling of what he sees. This involves not just looking at things but ‘seeing’ in the terms of paint. Painting is thus a language of the eye or the ‘feeling’ mind. It is this expression of feeling that distinguishes still life from photography. A camera can capture a moment, but only a painting can conjure a mood and a sense of the passage in time. This very reason explains Colin’s enduring appeal.
