This exhibition is not only a retrospective celebration of Martin's paintings but a chance to see previously unseen work. In his last few years Martin immersed himself totally in his work, walking the hills and coasts and re-visiting favourite places to paint. As his health failed, he found solace in simply looking out from his studio in the Conwy valley and painting the everchanging light, weather and atmosphere. Despite successfully exhibiting for several decades, in the latter years Martin no longer felt the need for his work to be seen, instead choosing to devote his time purely to painting. It is only after his passing that these paintings are now available to be shown at Ffin y Parc for the first time alongside a selection of his earlier work.
Diana & Family
Martin's work is all about the colour and the light!
In his work you can feel the contentment and release that he feels when he is out alone on the hills or at the sea's edge. Where his eye reaches far into the distance, uninterrupted.
The work takes us on a journey. From the foreground, often full and busy, shadowed, the ground strewn with rocks, thickets of plants, riotous flowers, he leads us out. He lifts our eyes, away, up to the distant ridge glistening in the sunlight, bright with snow. Or he takes us down over the water, out into the spray and the wind with scatterings of birds.
This interplay between the close and the distant gives the work shape and drama, but it also exerts an emotional pull, taking us out of ourselves and away from our preoccupations into a place where we are encouraged to see a wider world. A bigger picture…a place of contemplation.
Martin's work is refreshing and helps to restore a valuable sense of perspective!
Martin Collins was born in Gloucester in 1941. After studying Fine Art at Gloucestershire College of Art and Hornsey College of Art, he taught in Nottingham and exhibited widely in the North of England. He moved to North Wales in the 1980’s and wrote many books on coastal and mountain walking. He returned to painting full-time in 2002, and the landscapes of North Wales became his main subject. His work is found in many collections in the UK and beyond. Martin died in 2023