'He knows the coast by heart. It's just that the sky keeps changing the rules.'
Matthew Alexander makes no secret of his love for the Kent coast. He grew up beside it, knows its waters as a sailor and has spent most of his life painting it. The vast skies above Thanet, the wet sands of Pegwell Bay, the tidal creeks around Faversham and the sailing barges of East Anglia are familiar territory, yet he never seems to tire of them. What keeps him interested is the sheer unpredictability of the light.
Alexander is particularly drawn to those moments when the weather changes the appearance of everything beneath it. A bank of cloud moves across an estuary, leaving the foreground in deep shadow while the distant shore catches the sun. Wet sand becomes a mirror for a clearing sky. A passing storm brings an unexpected brilliance to an otherwise ordinary stretch of countryside. He has a wonderful eye for these effects, and an enthusiasm for them that has survived more than fifty years of painting.
His understanding of the landscape goes well beyond its appearance. An experienced sailor, he knows the tides, the boats and the character of the British coastline at first hand. In his paintings, a distant barge or harbour wall may be suggested with only a handful of brushstrokes, while the sky above takes command of the composition. The apparent simplicity is deceptive; there is considerable knowledge behind those few carefully placed marks.
Working predominantly in oils, Alexander combines broad, energetic brushwork with a finely developed understanding of colour and tone. He particularly enjoys the contrast between sunlight and deep shadow, often allowing large, dark passages to give an illuminated distance its extraordinary brightness. His paintings have movement and vitality, but also the assurance of someone who knows exactly what he wants to achieve, even if getting there is not always straightforward.
His admiration for Constable, Turner and the French Impressionists, particularly Monet and Sisley, is longstanding. Family camping holidays in France began an affection for the French countryside that continues today, and he regularly returns to paint the rivers, villages and landscapes around the Seine. Venice, too, has become a favourite subject, with its reflections, waterways and endlessly changing light. Closer to home, he takes particular pleasure in the rich colours of autumn and the drama of the British weather.
Alexander is refreshingly candid about the frustrations of being an artist. He admits that a painting he considers a disaster one day may look considerably better when he returns to it, and that the picture he imagines is rarely quite the one he manages to produce. He approaches exhibitions with what he describes as 'joy and dread in equal measure'. There is humour in his account of a painter's life, but also great dedication, curiosity and a determination never to become complacent.
That combination of enthusiasm and hard-earned experience gives Alexander's work much of its character. His paintings are generous in their use of colour and light, confident without being laboured, and full of his evident pleasure in the places he knows and loves. For someone who has spent a lifetime watching skies change, he seems in no danger of running out of things to paint.