Caroline Saunders talks to winner of The Artist Award in last year’s Royal Society of Marine Artists’ exhibition, Tom Marsh, about his love of painting alla prima
‘This is a road I have painted from every angle; it runs parallel to the sea and has directional light at both ends of the day. I love the depth it brings to a painting. Most local landscape artists are drawn to the sea a few metres away, but this road does it for me. It is my Sussex Francisco!’
Passionate about plein air, painting outdoors gives Tom Marsh the purest sense of immersion. Capturing the magic of a fleeting moment at speed is the key skill of a plein-air painter and one that fuels his excitement and love of painting. He paints exclusively with oil paint and approaches each new piece with the same excitement and uncertainty. Over time he has gained confidence in knowing what to exclude. ‘A good painting is like a tightrope, the rope being the line of truth and direction of a positive outcome. Fortunately, oil painting is a forgiving medium and lets you fall and get back up again, you can scrape it off or paint over an error. A really key point is that we learn from our mistakes so oil paint gives an artist a very viscerally felt pathway to a successful painting.’
Composition remains a fascinating and elusive subject for Tom. ‘For me the composition always comes first. I do not personally believe there is a magic formula. Paintings that follow classic composition can lead to very dull paintings.’ Tom has little expectation of the end result when he begins painting. His interest and energy is drawn to finding the composition within the subject he was attracted to. By default this means he creates a lot of failed paintings. Even a failed painting can contain a successful element and after some reflection he may crop to this one section.
Tom was introduced to oil painting by his father. ‘My parents gave me an easel and an oil paint set when I was just six. My father loved painting and my mother was a teacher so between them they always encouraged my creative thinking. I spent my early childhood in Wellington, New Zealand. Looking through the school playground railings I used to watch the ships coming and going from the harbour and off into the deep blue Pacific Ocean beyond. When the sun was shining, the blue was magnificent and bold shadows would light up the timber- clad houses on the hills. It was my Hollywood and its intrinsic qualities of light and story have shaped my c
