Artist casts quirky eye over Jersey and beyond

Sunday 18 November 2018

A local artist, whose quirky use of colour and form "brings to life" local and global scenes ranging from Gorey to St. Malo and Amsterdam, is revealing his inspirations.

Taking Place at Jersey Museum's Link Gallery Michael Ferns' ‘Illustrated Views’ is his third solo exhibition.

The paintings are a mixture of acrylic and ink works, with each featuring a pinch of Michael's personality, which he's set to share more of in a talk with visitors today. Before that, he spoke to Express about the path he painted to get where he is today...

Michael confesses that he fell in love with art when he was just a child. That passion led him to an illustration degree at Plymouth University, from which he graduated in 2010.

"I loved drawing which developed into painting as I progressed through college and university," he explained. "I enjoy creating tones and colour. Also I find with acrylic paints is that they dry quickly and can be applied with further mediums on top."

During his time at Plymouth, Michael mixed traditional techniques such as drawing, print and paint with digital work. He still uses the tricks he picked up to this day, especially through his volunteering for Jersey Heritage, for whom he put together an illustrated walking book.

In his illustrations, Michael likes to capture "a sense of place, expressing atmosphere and mood" through colour, tone and mark making.

Pictured: "I try to bring things to life using my style and personality," says Michael.

"The exhibition at Jersey Museum presents a selection of them, which includes Jersey scenes, London Landmarks as well as Amsterdam, Stirling and St. Malo. Colourful and detailed, the images seem taken out of either a comic book or an animated movie, with character ready to get moving. It's almost as if some of the buildings were themselves ready to come to life and tell their story," he said.

More than representing the places Michael has picked "through exploring and travelling", the works also give an insight into his imagination, his sense of space and memories of a peculiar place.

Streets and landmarks are often his subjects of choice, but Michael also works on editorial illustrations for local magazines and has been commissioned by Jersey Heritage to illustrate a Children’s Book about the Battle of Jersey, as well as Christmas cards this year. "I try to focus on additional things such as people and animals as well as vector images to create a bit more diversity," he said.

Discussing how he picks his subjects, Michael explained: "I take loads of photos of views and scenes that intrigue and inspire me which usually become a painting or drawing. I do standard views but I also like painting unusual scenes which tend to be missed. I try to bring things to life using my style and personality."

While his style might seem rather contemporary, the illustrator confessed being inspired by the neo-romanticists of the 1940s, including Piper, Ravillious and Bawden, as he explained: "I find they have atmospheric, moody location paintings which are appealing to the eye. I like their subject matters of buildings and scenery usually from certain times of the day and throughout the seasons.They also use mediums that I like to use as well."

Michael will be at the Link Gallery at 13:30 today to meet visitors and discuss how he works. His exhibition continues until 27 November.