by Steve Empson | Jul 23, 2020
I am a painter of place, and through a series of largely mixed media compositions, I attempted to express something of what it means to me, to know a place ‘at the edge’. The resulting paintings can be seen in Gallery 2 I observed two communities: Seal Sands (Greatham...
by Steve Empson | Apr 2, 2015
On North Yorkshire’s Jurassic coast, where Roxby Beck meets the North Sea, there is just enough space to squeeze in a landing place. The Old Norse word ‘stoth’, means a wharf, but in the North East of England, under Danelaw, the word in common usage was ‘staithe’, and...
by Steve Empson | Jun 17, 2014
I stepped down from the ‘United’ bus at a junction on the main Redcar to Whitby road, and found myself on the edge of a small estate of unprepossessing council houses. Feeling underwhelmed at the climax of my journey, my 12 year-old legs dawdled 300 yards further, and...
by Steve Empson | May 5, 2014
Looking at paintings, people often seem to want an answer to the question, “How long did it take you to do that?” It’s difficult to offer a reply. I can work out the hours I spend in the studio at an easel, applying media to a surface, but that would only...
by Steve Empson | Mar 15, 2014
Just 4 miles to the north of Hartlepool lies the former colliery village of Blackhall and Blackhall Rocks, at the southern extent of the Northumberland and Durham coalfield, and what a place it is! In my initial blog I said that the sort of places I painted were not...
by Steve Empson | Jan 26, 2014
Greatham Creek is a tributary of the river Tees, not really flowing into the river, but forming part of the delta, and joining the estuary at Seal Sands beyond Seaton Snook on the south side of Hartlepool. I used to cycle there in the late 60s and early 70s when there...
