In our latest guest blog, we speak to Cornwall-based artist Claudia Corbridge – renowned for her turquoise-hued seascapes – to hear how she turned her love of the ocean into a rewarding career.
Claudia's journey into becoming an artist was one of serendipity. Initially painting for enjoyment in her free time, she experimented with different subjects all inspired by the natural world around her, from flowers to landscapes. “I began thinking,” she says. “What is it that I can paint that I will never get bored of?” And her answer was the sea. A Cornish girl, Claudia loves nothing more than to head down to a secret cove on a weekend – to walk, swim or simply just be. So it’s no surprise that those secret coves started to emerge within her paintings.
“I was feeling very uninspired in my job at the time, and in a period of poor mental health. So I found being beside the sea and coming back to paint the things I'd seen to be a great form of escapism,” she notes. Which casts my mind to a quote by Danish writer, Karen Blixsen: "The cure for anything is salt water."
“I’d go and see other peoples' artwork at galleries and think: I can do that," she says. So she made the brave move to leave her job behind, dedicating one day a week to painting. “I didn’t know how to find my own style at first,” she adds. “So I started zooming into photographs that I’d taken on my phone of some of my favourite parts of Cornish coast and painting those."
These close-ups of the ocean, what Claudia dubs her “water study series”, reflect those candid little moments that transpire in pockets of sea – the way the water ripples at the touch of the breeze, how its surface sparkles like gold dust in the sun, and the way it waltzes with the sand that lies beneath – which can so easily pass us by if not fully present.
“I saw a gap in the market for this type of painting,” she says. “Many artists paint full beaches or coastlines, but these zoomed in sections of secluded nooks are what truly inspire me.” From Rinsey to Prussia Cove to Pedn Vounder, each print perfectly captures the spirit of each special slice of tropical-looking coast.
From here, Claudia had built up quite the collection of original prints and decided to host an exhibition at a local lifeboat house. “It was so nerve-wracking,” she recalls. “Up until this point, it had just been a passion project. And if I sold anything, it was a bonus. But I was now opening myself up for peoples' opinions.” The exhibition went by with great success and Claudia soon realised that this once therapeutic hobby had chance to be a fully-fledged career.
“The art world has been such a positive space for me,” she adds. “And it’s incredible to see the impact my paintings can have on people and their lives.” She reflects on one particularly moving story of a man who commissioned her to create a piece for his wife, who was in poor health – as she too shared a profound love for the ocean. And when Claudia revealed the bespoke piece, he thanked her for bringing his wife’s most adored seaside spot “into their home” so that she could look at it every day, as she once did.
“That’s what it’s all about for me,” she explains. And what a poignant full circle: the blend of coast and craft that once brought Claudia necessary solace during personal darkness could now be used in the same way to help others. In essence, the healing power of the sea.
With thanks to Dom Salunke for the imagery.
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