Frances Hatch
Frances Hatch photo by Richard Gregory
A place palette laid out on the shingle at Chesil Beach at sunset
Frances Hatch sketchbook
Frances kneeling at the tide line at Lulworth Cove, working on a long painting laid on the beach

working with rather than working in a landscape

Photograph — Richard Gregory

a space where anything can land without prejudice or judgement

Photograph — Richard Gregory

Place palettes

if these palettes could speak, they would say: we were here and this is what we noticed

infused with geology, traces of weather, circumstance and chance

weather is neither good nor bad — it simply is

Photograph — Tom Hanmer

observing topography and the particular

Photograph — Richard Gregory

linear time relaxes, it ebbs and flows with the tides

01 07

The practice

‘There is magic underfoot’

Work is made on the ground. Rucksack essentials consist of a surface to paint on, a couple of brushes, primary colours, a tube of white and a binding medium.

‘Hanging around’ in the landscape with no outcome in mind is an intentional stance. Something always occurs: the light changes, the tide turns, a particular rock formation crops up, an atmosphere shifts. Then, the work begins.

More about the artist & practice
Frances Hatch sitting on the floor of her studio beside a work in progress.
In the studio — photograph, Tom Hanmer

Studio Newsletter

I like to keep in touch via a personal Studio Newsletter a few times a year. I offer reflections about my practice as well as information about exhibitions, events and workshops — you’ll be the first to hear.

Elsewhere