BELOW ARE PAST EXHIBITIONS and if you have a venue which is crying out for an arty exhibition then do get in touch

"Once in a Lifetime"

EXHIBITION @ HOST GALLERIES, 12 Whimple Street, PLYMOUTH PL1 2DH

from 19th Feb to March 4th 2022

Open Tuesday to Saturday 10.30am to 5.30pm

All are welcome and I hope to lift you into 2022 with my positive paintings.

See my article in PLYMOUTH HERALD

 

Martin Bush has been painting his world in the abstract for over 25 years and things become clear that he needed to make changes to a few things that were either out of control or needing new horizons to play with.

The pandemic has been a catalyst as well as a challenge for many and having that void of time to reflect on where he had been and how he wished to proceed into the future gave the drive he needed to change parts of his artistic life as well as other more visually and shapely issues that arose through indulgence and lack of drive.

“Life sometimes takes you somewhere that you don't want to be but you suddenly end up there, life’s indulgences and a depressive journey leads to what seemed an impossible place and you await that light-bulb moment to kick start and turn your issues into the positive”.

All this needed to change somehow.
The light-bulb moment isn’t an instant thing, in fact as the way Martin likes to paint the way forward is best left to organic evolution.
This is where the introduction of a bicycle made for real change and inspiration.

The thought of getting a bike and what was his childhood favorite pastime ticked boxes so in October 2021 he got back on the saddle.
He says he was very apprehensive to be out there riding again with all the scares of being on the road and its dangers but perhaps this is part of the challenge. Well at first it was more than a challenge as Martin needed to get fit enough first to be able to hit even the smallest of hills.

“I had to start in my front room with my new bike trainer to burn the weight off first and gain strength as well as courage to go for it and this rekindled my love of cycling as well as gaining confidence to hit the roads”

The whole experience he says is “A Once in a Lifetime” choice to regain control of his health and you only have this time and not tomorrow to make such a change. Today and not tomorrow kept him going and it was priority number one over anything else, that he must lose this burden of weight NOW and to stop this negative past in its tracks.

Once his fitness reached his abilities to get out of the city and into the country and views of the seas and Dartmoor were a tangible reach this then instilled with epic photos into his now newfound paintings. The whole experience of this past year was beginning to filtrate into his new work. He reflects on what he calls his Blossom inspired paintings that he did in spring 2020 that were a great positive step to hope and were very much a bridge for his mind which was a foundation to this now new set of paintings that are so inspired by his large collection of photographic evidence of his 4000 miles of cycle rides as well as the new inner emotions he has gained from the views as well as achievements with loosing 4 stone in weight.
He has refound his love to paint his positive messages on canvas and hopes you will feel this energy from his new work as he does.

He says that for him this work is so new that he hasn’t absorbed the fullness of it yet but when he sits in his armchair after a hard 3 hour cycle ride and looks into each painting he feels he is out there on the hills and magnificence of beautiful vistas once more.

Martin is glad to start this year with this exhibition to show this journey of 4000 miles in paint and to invigorate others to join in as one other item he misses since closing his past home in the Yard in having contact with others and to talk and discover what is within his new work.

“I have always cherished the conversation with people in what they see and feel in my work and am looking forward to discussing and sharing my journey with you and hope you can connect with me what has been an amazing change in my life as well as my feelings in paint”.

CLICK HERE to see some of the paintings in the show