There’s
a nervous energy about Christopher Wood.
Perhaps it’s because he’s talking about
his forthcoming exhibition, a body of work he has poured
the best part of two years into. It could be that he’s
explaining the renovations he has planned for his beautiful
18th century home in the picturesque East Lothian coastal
town of Dunbar. Or maybe it’s because he’s
recounting the weekend spent on the beach with his wife,
Jane, and two youngest children, Max and Amelie. Either
way, the combination of his three favourite subjects
– his home, his art and his family – has
Christopher brimming with adrenalin.
The 44-year-old artist is on the brink
of his first major solo exhibition since 2004. Scooping
the Glasgow Art Club Fellowship RSW award last year
means that he has been given professional membership
to the club, as well as a one-man show where he will
exhibit an exhilarating range of works, a culmination
of what this artist describes as “a display of
the artistic processes I’ve gone through over
the years and the different results they’ve produced”.
Originally a landscape painter, Christopher’s
work has made an incredible transition over the last
decade. From his days as an Edinburgh College of Art
student, to the time spent in the French meadows painting
en plein air, and his introduction to the work of Russian
abstract painter Nicolas De Staël, Christopher
has progressed from a realistic artist, painting landscapes
and still life, to one immersed in the abstract form,
incorporating almost anything he can get his hands on
into his work. The turning point, he says, was the birth
of his son Max.
“We decided to have a home birth,
so I was preparing my studio, where Max was to be born,
for his arrival,” says Christopher. “But
I became restless and got back into the studio. This
was the first time I experimented with mixed media,
using acrylic paints, house paints, oil. I was working
on the floor, which I’d never done before, and
what I created had amazing energy about it. Becoming
a father changed my style and I’ve been experimenting
with abstract work ever since. That painting I created
is called Birth.”
Hanging in the living room, where his
own private collection jostles for position among an
abundance of family photos (sepia-toned glamorous portraits,
cute photo-booth shots and collages of cosy, nostalgic
pictures litter Jane’s masterful grand piano)
and treasured memorabilia, this painting marked a rebirth,
of sorts, for the Edinburgh-born artist.
Wandering around the four-storey house,
Christopher points out pictures done by three-year-old
Max at nursery, saying: “It’s really interesting
– he’s started doing figurative work,”
and gesturing proudly to doodles titled Max and Daddy.
When Christopher’s not in the studio, every spare
moment is spent with his family – Jane has two
older children, Ally and David, and three cats, Lucy,
Scout and Mouse, frolic in the garden to the distant
strains of the coastal gulls, the distinctive aroma
of the sea in the air.
“We spend a lot of time in the
garden playing boules and paddling in the pool with
the kids,” says Christopher. “We got married
last year and we said to our friends and family that
instead of buying us wedding gifts, to give us things
for the garden. I built the wooden climbing frame and
within half an hour of finishing it, there were kids
all over it.”
The couple’s 18th century B-listed,
seven-bedroom home, Port Lodge, is the perfect space
for Christopher’s work. Every wall is decked with
art (one of his favourite Scottish artists is the Shetland-based
seascape painter Ruth Brownlee), while pieces inherited
from family – such as Christopher’s father’s
writing bureau – and souvenirs from holidays,
including two metal lanterns hanging in his studio that
Christopher bartered furiously for on a trip to Kathmandu,
all lend a relaxed warmth to this family home. Jane
spotted the dining table and chairs – original
arts and crafts pieces that were being cleared from
Falkirk Sheriff Court – rescued them and covered
them in a traditional William Morris fabric. Entertaining
is easy at this spacious home. And, living in such an
idyllic spot, the family often open their house up,
making the most of the stunning beach that their home
looks across.
“We’re very lucky,“
says Christopher. “In four minutes, we can be
on Belhaven beach. Last weekend, we took Max and Amelie,
a basket of hot sausages and a picnic and spent the
day swimming in the sea. My stepmother lives in North
Berwick – open her back door and you’re
out onto a beautiful beach. The children call her Granny
splish-splash.”
Christopher’s love of the Scottish
wilderness is unfaltering; hailing from the birthplace
of John Muir, his adoration of the country’s awe-inspiring
landscapes is deep-rooted and adds another, deeper dimension
to his work. Christopher has a glass case filled with
curios and objets from Dunbar – a homage of sorts
to his home town – that Max and Amelie spend hours
pouring over.
Christopher also likes to escape with
his brother to Sandwood Bay in Sutherland. A remote,
exposed beach where you have to park and make a two-hour
trek, this is where Christopher could easily spend 11
hours knee-deep in the sea, fishing, gazing at the horizon
and taking in the ever-changing seascape.
“We’d love to live abroad
for a time, perhaps in India or South Africa,”
he says. “But we want our children to grow up
here. We’re incredibly passionate about Scotland.”
Christopher Wood exhibits his solo
show from September 30 to October 21 at the Glasgow
Art Club, 185 Bath Street, Glasgow. Visit www.christopherwood.co.uk
Homes
& Interiors Scotland
Issue 49
September/October 2006
Text by Catherine
Coyle Photography by Angus Bremner.
All photos ©
Bremner photo
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