Day 1: Artist Trail (The Great Torre Abbey Paint Out!)
Updated: Sep 3
Artist Trail
Experience a weekend of outdoor art inspired by the plein air tradition, as ten professional artists take over the Torbay coastline to capture our local landscape, inviting you to see familiar surroundings through entirely fresh, creative eyes.
Ten professional artists will be working on location, mapping the landscape between the historic grounds of Torre Abbey and the iconic Pavilion. Will you stumble across a couple of them, or walk the whole route? Whichever it is, you will discover the natural beauty of the Bay and see the coastline - and these anchor heritage landmarks - in a new light.
The Great Torre Abbey Paint Out Artist Trail follows the Art on Your Doorstep route and the Agatha Christie Mile, taking in the open spaces of the seafront. There are ten artists to meet, all stationed at key vantage points with unique views, including Princess Gardens, the historic facade of the Pavilion, and the surroundings of Agatha’s Bench. Walk the trail, engage with the practitioners, and see our familiar coastal landscape from a fresh artistic perspective.
Trail Map
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Artists
Mark Bell - Torquay Train Station (1)
I told my teacher at infant school that I wanted to be an artist.
I started out by not fitting in. I was drawn to outsiders, subcultures, and countercultures—my university dissertation was on David Bowie. I loved Tintoretto, Caravaggio, Freud, Picasso, and Turner—artists whose works are defined by drama, intensity, and turbulence. I still love them.
I think about painting constantly—every shaft of light, gust of wind, the power of waves crashing. I think about how to encapsulate a moment: what colours, what brushstrokes will evoke the emotions I feel when I am in that space. How can I paint the euphoria I feel when I am in nature? That feeling of being intrinsically connected to something so beautiful—how do I paint that?
I paint tension and power, fragility, immediacy, beauty and the flow of energy, . How can I convey these human conditions with paint, brushes, and palette knives?
I paint my feelings—my emotional responses to music, dance, sunsets, and nature. I want you to feel what I feel, hear what I hear, and see what I see. By exaggerating and distorting form and colour, I intensify the hypersensitivity that arises when immersed in music, movement, or the raw energy of a stormy shoreline. My work moves between transcendence, euphoria, and dysphoria. Painting makes me feel alive—at times frantic and invigorated, at others calm and blissful. It is an emotional rollercoaster.
Andrew Lucas - Torre Abbey (2)
I am an artist from Torquay painting in watercolour, whereby my practice began in my late teens while experimenting with different mediums. I enjoy painting landscapes, coastal studies and urban scenes, where I have a particular love of architecture and capturing complicated scenes on paper, and this is evident through my portfolio. I enjoy engaging with the audience and showcasing my work through exhibitions, online avenues and demonstrations. For me the most important part of artistry is to share your experience through art for the viewer to enjoy.
Rosie Burns - Torre Abbey (3)
Rosie Burns is an artist, one half of Rosie and Red Art and Leather, working from studios in Bideford, established 2023. Her work is a vibrant exploration of light, life, and the interplay between humanity and our environment. Experimental printmaking processes challenge depictions of gender, environmental concerns and push the boundaries between print and paint. More formal painting and illustration celebrate our natural world. Rosie initially trained as an Archaeological site and find illustrator, then went on to train to teach art and design in Devon; she worked in state education for over 20 years. Rosie has exhibited her paintings and prints locally, nationally and internationally for over 3 decades, participated in Art for Social Justice exhibitions in Miami, Berlin and the 24 and 26 Venice Bienniale
Joe Armstrong - Torre Abbey Park (4)
Colour takes on a truly unique form in the works of painter Joe Armstrong. His bold and daring use of colour and application have captured the eyes of galleries and art enthusiasts alike. From raspberry skies to lilac cliffs, Joe Armstrong is an artist who breaks down barriers when it comes to the realm of colour.
Growing up in London, Joe Armstrong spent five years studying Art and Design at the Epsom School of Art. After a stint working in advertising, in 1986 he moved to Cornwall, where he went on to have a successful career in graphic design for thirty years. It might seem unusual for someone like Joe Armstrong to go from a world that demands a regimented, logistical creative approach, to one that epitomizes fluidity and freedom.
Yet for Joe, with his unmistakable style that embodies a sense of vibrant spontaneity, painting was always at the forefront of his mind and as he started to develop his work, he was soon offering original art for sale alongside his graphic design business.Â
“I love the freedom to speak my own language when making art,’ describes Joe, “I originally started with brushes, but found that I couldn’t put wet paint on top of wet paint without making the colours go muddy. So, I tried a palette knife and hey presto! Now I use my fingers for most of the painting, then finish off with a palette knife, it all adds to the texture and movement.”Â
Now a full-time artist, Joe sells and exhibits his work in galleries across Cornwall, with an impressive range of collectors and followers of his pieces worldwide. Joe also offers short one to one painting sessions from his studio in Carnon Downs, Truro.Â
His paintings play with colour and movement and there’s no restrictions on paint when it comes to achieving a desired effect. With the palette knife, Joe’s work often takes on abstract tones, but the textures he creates with the oil paint gives each piece an effervescence and grace whilst allowing bold colours to sing.
“I get so excited most days when confronted with a blank canvas in my easel, I love colour, I’ll look at a tree with the sun shining on it and see burgundy, orange, turquoise, green and yellow. I love that my paintings have this vibrant and spontaneous feel to them.”Â
On a never-ending mission to keep developing, exploring and pushing the boundaries of his style, Joe is rarely seen away from his work and often he is out and about photographing locations around Cornwall before returning to the peace and quiet of his studio to paint, “Although my colours and treatments are my attempt at making each piece unique, my landscapes are a great representation to people that would like to take their memories home with them.”
Ian Cox SWAc - Torre Abbey Park (5)
I am an artist/printmaker based in Torquay. I work with linoprint, monotype and mezzotint, and I make large and detailed charcoal and pastel drawings.
Common themes in my work include otherness and the uncanny, and the exploration of complexity in landscape and our physical and psychological relationship and connection with it.
I am currently producing works that share subjects and locations, interpreting the scenes through the use of different mediums - working in both colour and black and white to enable different interpretations and expressions beyond the use, or otherwise, of colour to allow the mediums themselves to create possibilities that lead to different interpretations and insights.Â
Charlotte Tynne - Palm Gardens (Sunken Gardens/Promenade) (6)
I am an artist, printmaker and educator living and working in beautiful Torbay, Devon.
I enjoy working across a range of media and particularly love the process of linocut printmaking, particularly the creation of reduction prints. I am drawn to the complexity of the process, the element of risk, and the possibility that everything could go wrong. Yet I never tire of the excitement of watching an image slowly emerge through successive layers of colour.
I am endlessly inspired by the world around me. I love walking, exploring and spending time outdoors. My work is rooted in a love of seascapes, long shadows, reflections, light and colour. Through multilayered reduction prints, I explore my connection to my hometown, drawing on childhood memories, familiar places and people who have shaped my experience.
Joe Meldrum - Princess Pier (7)
I’m Joe Meldrum. I’m a deaf, award-winning landscape painter.
I paint because we live in a way that is out of step with what we are evolved for. Our big brains and intelligent minds were masterful at looking at our world and working out how to navigate and survive in it. Our brains were constantly asking about temperature, weather, safety, danger, journeys - all linked to our survival.
I paint because I feel a deep and intrinsic connection to this way of thinking about and interpreting a landscape. Landscapes speak to me on an evolutionary level and I bring this way of thinking and interpretation into my paintings. They look at the world as we would have once looked at it - a landscape to be navigated, lived in, explored, feared and wondered at. A connection to the way our brains once worked.
Wojciech Jaguzny - Torquay Pavilion (8)
Wojciech Jaguzny is a contemporary artist of Polish origin who lives and works in South Devon, England. His practice is rooted in abstraction and deeply influenced by the coastal landscape and shifting atmosphere of his rural surroundings. Through painting, Wojciech seeks to capture the mood of the land rather than its literal appearance — translating the quiet energy of the environment into form, movement, and texture. His work explores how landscape becomes emotion, and emotion becomes paint. Working primarily in acrylics, he often begins each piece with textured layers of enamel, gesso, and other materials. This raw and tactile foundation introduces chance into the process, allowing the surface to evolve organically. Over these grounds, he builds depth through gestural brushwork and subtle tonal variation, creating abstract compositions that feel both grounded and fluid — like the Devon landscape itself. Monochrome works, such as his fine art prints, emphasize rhythm and structure, revealing the dialogue between control and spontaneity. Each piece becomes a record of movement and atmosphere — a moment suspended between solidity and dissolution. In addition to his painting practice, Wojciech also works with film photography, using the medium as a way to observe light and compositional balance. He studied Fine Art at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland, where he earned his Master’s degree in 2013. His work invites viewers to slow down, to feel rather than see — to experience the landscape as a state of mind.
Stephen Hawkins - Torquay Harbour (9)
Having spent around 30 years living with my family in Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex, I have now moved to North Devon. My inspiration from the South Downs, Brighton and London have been replaced with new rural landscapes and seascapes.
I specialise in oil paintings, capturing the subtle changes of mood, light and shade, throughout the seasons. My time is split between en plein air painting from life and time in the studio.
I use traditional, age-old techniques for each painting, from hand stretching the canvas, or gesso-priming board, through to varnishing the finished picture and hand finishing the frame. All materials are of the highest quality to ensure longevity, colour fastness and durability.
In 2014 I entered my first competition with the Society of All Artists and have continued to submit works to various exhibitions over the years.Â
Claire Jo Harmer - Agatha's Bench (Torquay Harbour) (10)
Vibrant and intuitive, Claire Jo Harmer's work responds to landscape, light and colour. Working outdoors, she gathers impressions that evolve into expressive works. Layered and gestural, her work invites you to step in and experience a sense of place. Contemporary landscape artist, Claire Jo Harmer is a self-taught painter, former teacher. Recent collections feature evocations of the South West Coast Path, the Lake District, and the Scottish Highlands.
The Great Torre Abbey Paint Out
The Great Torre Abbey Paint Out takes over the seafront from 5th–6th September. Look out for artists working on location, or have a go at capturing the landscape yourself during the Sunday Mass Paint Out. For tips on getting creative outdoors and to find out more about the full schedule of events, head to artizangallery.co.uk/paintout26.
The Great Torre Abbey Paint Out builds upon the legacy of the Art on Your Doorstep Trail and looks forward to the future of Torquay Pavilion and its restoration programme. Produced by Artizan Collective and the Pavilion Creative Engagement Group.
Events
Day 2: Mass Paint Out - Sunday 6th, 10:00-16:00 - Take part in a celebration of creative community and join the Mass Paint Out on Torre Abbey's Upper Meadow. https://www.art-hub.co.uk/post/day-2-mass-paint-out-the-great-torre-abbey-paint-out
Day 2: Plein Air Art Comp - Sunday 6th, 10:00-17:00 - Torbay's first plein air art competition. Set in the stunning Torre Abbey grounds, there's loads to be inspired by, with a cash price, professional judges and youth categories. https://www.art-hub.co.uk/events-1/the-torbay-plein-air-comp
Volunteers
If you're interested to support the event, we have a range of volunteer opportunities across the weekend. Get in touch with volunteer@artizangallery.co.uk to sign up.
The Great Torre Abbey Paint Out is a celebration of Torquay heritage and two of our best loved historic sites, Torre Abbey and Torquay Pavilion. The event is organised by Torre Abbey, Torquay Pavilion Creative Engagement Group, and Artizan Collective.
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