Artist Maxwell Doig moves his attention from Yorkshire to Cornwall in new London exhibition

"It’s been a discovery for me and very exciting. I have been painting West Yorkshire for quite a long time and there’s a lot of stone and it was the director of Messum’s where the exhibition is being held who suggested I try somewhere different.

"The water makes the light very different in Cornwall and I love the combination of the buildings and the boat with the water.” Doig may not have been familiar with Cornwall when he started but his style is to immerse himself completely wherever he goes.

"I go four or five times a year to see it in the different seasons, quite short trips but I love to camp. In a tent you just open the tent flap and you are there right next to the sea. When you are camping you are there as it gets dark and at dawn in the morning and so you see the different lights at the different times of day.”

He takes lots of photographs at different times, angles and seasons and makes some sketches before going back to his Yorkshire studio. The result is an exhibition of 67 paintings although this does also include some of his Yorkshire works.

It is his sixth exhibition with David Messum, and the works feature images from Newton Ferrers to where the Percuil River meets the sea at St Mawes, and down to the picturesque village of Polperro.

“I love to paint the old buildings near the harbour at Polperro. Many of these are white and I like the way they appear to be stacked up the valley sides like building blocks,” says Doig.

"I especially like the gable end on the inner harbour wall. It has a prominent, crisp shape, a bit like a block of cheese. You can see its age and history etched into its surfaces. I have tried to capture these characteristics in some new paintings of Polperro.”

His Cornish and Devon subjects are a combination of his previous achievements on his painting trips to Flamborough, Whitby and Southwold.

“I took my boat out onto the water and what I saw inspired me to paint ‘Boat reflections at Newton Ferrers’ a recent work on paper. The clarity of light reflecting off the water and back onto the boats was memorable, it gave the boats a sort of luminous quality. I love the way the greens of the trees, which grow down to the water’s edge, are mirrored in the water. I look forward to returning to this special place”

Doig was born and works in Huddersfield. He doesn’t come from an artistic family but his dad was interested in art and always encouraged him. He received his BA (Hons) in Fine Art at Manchester School of Art before completing his postgraduate studies at the Slade School of Art, London. In 1990 he had his first solo show in Nottingham, winning the Joseph Webb Prize for Draughtsmanship the same year. After winning the Villiers David Prize in 1997, he travelled extensively throughout America, particularly its coastlines, as well as to Australia and Mexico. After lecturing part-time at the then Leeds Metropolitan University, he had his first solo shows in London, which were followed by associated shows in New York, Milan and Bologna.

His work is also held in numerous public and corporate collections including Jersey Arts Centre, the University of Manchester, the Mercer Gallery, Harrogate, and the Huddersfield Art Gallery, as well as private collections throughout the UK, Europe and USA.

Doig is widely known for his own ambient representations of buildings, boats and ruins, reflecting his concerns about mankind’s relationship with the landscape and the dynamic effects of time that are amplified when a building loses its purpose.

Texture is all important to Doig which was seen even in his earlier figurative works, before he turned his attention to buildings.

"In the background of my figurative paintings there’s texture that i use now in the buildings. I took the figure as far as I could and couldn’t take it any further but what took over was the textures that were in the background and now they are the focus in the buildings."

The technique used in his mixed media works came about by accident after scraping paint from one of his paintings that hadn’t worked very well and he was intrigued by what was left behind and has now adopted this in his works.

“I noticed that it left behind some really interesting textures that you just couldn’t paint with a brush even if you wanted to. There is something very organic about it. It was completely by accident and now I adopt it in all my works.

“I build up layers of tone and colour over various coarser grounds,” he explains.

"Once I have a few layers built up, I scrape back hoping to find interesting textures and marks which might suggest a wall, for example. Sometimes, I scrape back paintings which haven't worked and use the marks left behind as a starting point for a new painting. Sometimes I find interesting marks and shapes which I couldn't have thought of. It is a way of working which I have developed over several decades.”

Doig admits he really doesn’t know what draws him to old and derelict buildings.

"I’m really not sure myself. I’ve always noticed and liked old buildings, even when I was painting figures, and for a long time I didn’t do anything about it but once I started I was off it was a completely new direction for me and was a complete surprise to me.”

He now wants to turn his attention to the Yorkshire coast and revisit north Norfolk and Scotland – all with his trusty tent of course

The Maxwell Doig exhibition is at Messum;s in St James’s, London until Friday April 27. All paintings are for sale and can be viewed at www.messums.com