Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Most artists hang their paintings on their walls - Greg Ramsden hangs his landscape works beneath the trees in a field near his Ashburton home.

Greg subjects his paintings to the elements for months, and the results are startling.

Greg, 27, gets his inspiration from the Devon landscape - whether it's the coastline, Dartmoor, or the fields at his home.

After painting the scene, he then allows nature to take its course. Frost, wind and rain create different textures and shades. Greg even sets fire to some of his paintings, to create a darker look.

The one element binding all of his paintings, however, is Devon.

"My inspiration is from the Devon landscape," said Greg, whose family moved to the county when he was a baby.

"You can't fail to be inspired by our environment here."

Greg studied fine art at Sheffield University before returning to Devon. He received a grant from the Prince's Trust to help him set up a studio in Newton Abbot, where he used to live.

Devon Geology 67

It was here that he started to experiment with using local materials in his painting.

"I was living just off the River Teign, and there were so many different muds and sand. I mixed them with varnish and thought, oh, this is good. I collected stuff in plastic bags and used it in my paintings and it worked."

The paintings in the Devon Geology series have pebbles, sand, clay and earth, which add texture to the works. All of them portray Devon above and below ground.

The series was a a precursor to Greg's current work.

"Now, I'm experimenting with how a painting is made, using the elements in my work. I've been painting the field where I live quite a lot. It's all about seeing different things at different times of year.

"It's a meadow now, but there were sheep in it before. In late summer it's strimmed and baled, and during the winter, the bog at the bottom of the field freezes over."

Greg then subjected these paintings to the elements: one was left out in the frost, and another contains lots of earth and was put out in the rain.

Greg's field in the frost

A third painting was subjected to fire, and another was done using the wind.

"If you put pools of oil onto a canvas and leave it for the wind to blow across, it makes different patterns," explains Greg.

"I know that the paintings will end up looking like the field, but the patterns and textures are out of my control.

"And setting fire to them does uncontrollably beautiful things. I'd like to get one struck by lightning but that might be a bit too dangerous."

There is a message in Greg's works, which sometime contains materials such as motor oil and windscreen wash: "I'm trying to portray our battle at the moment, which is the battle for sustainable living.

"It's a friendly message, about our locality and being aware of the damage we might do. Hopefully, it will help to re-connect people to their local environment."

Greg with his Vennford painting

One of the paintings Greg is working on is currently beneath a tree in a field. Bird mess, leaves and earth will all leave their mark and give Greg something else to work on.

"I'm dyslexic, which I think helps me to see other things more clearly. So I'll take a look at a painting which I've left out in the elements and think, wow, that looks like a tor, or a tree. So I think my dyslexia helps with that."

Another of his current projects - a painting of the area around Vennford Reservoir - has been exposed for 18 months, but is now ready to be sold.

So what do people make of his wind-swept, rain-lashed, arson-hit paintings? "They just can't believe it," said Greg.

"They tell me they think I'm very clever, but I'm not - it's nature being clever.

"I plan to take my stuff to London, but I want to get my name known down here first. I'm just learning at the moment."

Greg's work can be seen at an exhibition at the High Moorland Visitor Centre in Princetown until 25 June 2008. The exhibition also features work by another young Devon artist, Adam Bunce, and photographer Ben Yates.

And throughout June 2008, Greg's work is on show at the National Trust's Greenway in Galmpton - the former family home of Agatha Christie.

In September 2008, Greg is among scores of artists taking part in a series of art trails across Devon, in the Devon Open Studios event. There is more information on the Devon Artist Network website - see the link on this page.