The Great Torre Abbey Pain Out Legacy Exhibition
Publication date: 25 September 2026
Earlier this year I was selected to join a group of ten local artists who were commissioned to spend 6 hours on Saturday 5th September on Torquay seafront, each of us tasked with producing a picture from our assigned location, working in full view of, and interacting with, anyone who happened to be passing!
Torre Abbey, Torquay Pavilion Creative Engagement Group, and Artizan Collective were behind this project called 'The Great Torre Abbey Paint Out' - the event marking the final weekend of the Art on Your Doorstep initiative (supported by The National Gallery) with the aim of celebrating our local heritage and outdoor creativity.
The other commissioned artists were:
Earlier this year I was selected to join a group of ten local artists who were commissioned to spend 6 hours on Saturday 5th September on Torquay seafront, each of us tasked with producing a picture from our assigned location, working in full view of, and interacting with, anyone who happened to be passing!
Torre Abbey, Torquay Pavilion Creative Engagement Group, and Artizan Collective were behind this project called 'The Great Torre Abbey Paint Out' - the event marking the final weekend of the Art on Your Doorstep initiative (supported by The National Gallery) with the aim of celebrating our local heritage and outdoor creativity.
The other commissioned artists were:
Andrew Lucas
Claire Jo Harmer
Charlotte Tyne
Joe Armstrong
Joe Meldrum
Mark Bell
Stephen Hawkins
Rosie Burns
Wojciech Jaguzny
The day after the ten selected artists had completed their part of the project, anyone with an interest in making art was invited to the grounds of Torre Abbey to produce their own contribution to the project whilst, at the same time, a 6-hour plein air competition was taking place around the same location.
All this creative activity produced a lot of art which will be on display at Torre Abbey from 3rd October to 21st December in this exhibition, which is called 'Outside In'.
So here is a wonderful opportunity to see the work of local artists, professional and non-professional in one of Torquays' most beautiful and historic buildings.
There are plans for a second appearance of this work at an exhibition that will be held at Torquay Pavilions, later in 2027.
The work I made!
I decided to set myself the challenge of producing a very large picture (50cm x 200cm) using the medium of soft pastel and charcoal. To make the work I made a 6-panel concertina book - so it can be displayed flat on a wall, in a zig-zag on a table, or viewed in book format.
The picture was largely finished on the day (see the first photo below), but we were allowed to continue working for as long as we liked up until the hand-in day, later in September.
This extension has allowed me to spend more time refining the picture although it remains very close to the artwork I created while working on the seafront.
I'm not going to post the finished picture here until after the exhibition opens (I would like people to see it in real life rather than be exposed to a digital trailer!) but I have taken a few photos of details from the work, so you can get a sense of it. The scale of the work makes these images look like complete works in themselves!
My work is called 'Gardens and the Bay', and will be on sale for £2500
The day after the ten selected artists had completed their part of the project, anyone with an interest in making art was invited to the grounds of Torre Abbey to produce their own contribution to the project whilst, at the same time, a 6-hour plein air competition was taking place around the same location.
All this creative activity produced a lot of art which will be on display at Torre Abbey from 3rd October to 21st December in this exhibition, which is called 'Outside In'.
So here is a wonderful opportunity to see the work of local artists, professional and non-professional in one of Torquays' most beautiful and historic buildings.
There are plans for a second appearance of this work at an exhibition that will be held at Torquay Pavilions, later in 2027.
The work I made!
I decided to set myself the challenge of producing a very large picture (50cm x 200cm) using the medium of soft pastel and charcoal. To make the work I made a 6-panel concertina book - so it can be displayed flat on a wall, in a zig-zag on a table, or viewed in book format.
The picture was largely finished on the day (see the first photo below), but we were allowed to continue working for as long as we liked up until the hand-in day, later in September.
This extension has allowed me to spend more time refining the picture although it remains very close to the artwork I created while working on the seafront.
I'm not going to post the finished picture here until after the exhibition opens (I would like people to see it in real life rather than be exposed to a digital trailer!) but I have taken a few photos of details from the work, so you can get a sense of it. The scale of the work makes these images look like complete works in themselves!
My work is called 'Gardens and the Bay', and will be on sale for £2500
Above - Image 1: Work in progress on the day. The two-tripod arrangement only got blown over once!
Above - Image 2: Detail
Above - Image 2: Detail
Above - Image 3: Detail
Above - Image 4: Detail
Above - Image 5: Detail
Above - Image 6: Detail
Above - Image 7: Detail (I've become quite good at drawing palms!)
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