'Time and Tide'

Mick Oxley

ARTIST MICK’S

COURAGEOUS PERSONAL JOURNEY...

ONCE flippantly dismissed as ‘yuppie flu’ but later confirmed by medical experts as a genuine debilitating illness, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Me (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) struck down Mick Oxley at the height of his teaching career.

Yet he freely admits that his artistic journey can be traced back to that confirmed diagnosis in 1993.

“It wasn’t until ME forced to retire that I was able to give time to my creative side and art also helped me get my head around what was actually happening to my body,” he says.

“Painting is therapeutic as it massages the mind and whatever worries you may have - money, career or health - get pushed to one side.”

Now 54, and having established a reputation in the north-east as one of the most talented artists of his generation, Mick is holding his first-ever exhibition in Cumbria.

Currently showing in the main gallery at High Head Sculpture Valley, Ivegill, Time & Tide features a breathtaking array of acrylic canvases and watercolours that capture the power and drama of the North Sea.

“It’s a very moody sea, tempestuous and dramatic, very Nordic with its muted greys, blues and greens,” ventures Mick, whose coastal home at Craster - famous for its delicious kippers - overlooks this impressive stretch of water.

His own life story is as unpredictable as the waves and breakers that he so brilliantly captures on canvas.

Raised in Corbridge, Mick left school at 15 with no qualifications.  He did a succession of labouring jobs before eventually winning a place at university to study social sciences in his 20s.

For thirteen years he taught in Bradford.

Always physically active, Mick cycled, ran and competed in marathons until he gradually begin to experience typical early symptoms of ME - aching, twitching muscles and sleep disturbance.

“But because I was a very motivated person, and believing that exercise helps the mind to feel good, I attempted even more exercise and the more I did the worse I got,” he explains.

“I was in a hole and I should have stopped digging.”

His thigh muscles took the brunt of the illness and soon he was unable to support himself.

“I was sliding along the floor of our home because I fought against using a wheelchair.

“The silver lining was that my son was just a few months old so I was on the floor playing with him all the time and not many fathers get that opportunity.”

After taking early retirement Mick and his family moved to Craster on the north-east coast and he spent the first year sitting on a bench looking at the sea and talking to retired fishermen.

“But I realised I had to do something with my life,” he says.

After finally accepting that he needed to use a wheelchair his life began to change. He had mobility; he was no longer confined to home. He joined a local art group and his hidden talent began to emerge.

“I was very tight at the beginning,” he remembers, “and I used little pens and brushes to draw and paint but after a while my style began to loosen up.”

Following an article in a north-east magazine that celebrated the originality of his work he took the brave decision to become a full-time artist.

“I was on a retirement pension at the time and I worried about losing what little income I had,” he says.

But the public loved his work and regular exhibitions quickly followed.

Never one to shirk a challenge, Mick has even worked with disabled victims of the 1988 Armenian earthquake.

“An Italian charity has built an art school out there and I was able to visit to see for myself the therapeutic power of art amongst people whose lives remain an ongoing struggle because of poverty,” he says.

Mick hopes to hold an exhibition of some of the Armenian’s artwork in York Minster.

It is his ongoing fascination with the North Sea that underpins his Time & Tide exhibition at High Head which runs until October 9.

“I love the way the sea moves - it’s almost like the grain of a piece of wood. Then the wind gets up and the clouds roll in and the surface and colours start to change, almost like a kaleidoscope.”

After visiting High Head he was eager to exhibit his work.

“It’s a fantastic venue with great light and I just hope that visitors in Cumbria take away something positive from my work,” he says.

Mick is now seeking planning permission to build his own gallery in Craster - to act as a showcase for the art that is as powerful and dynamic as the man behind it.

. . . . . . . . . .

Based in Craster, Northumberland, location is fundamental to Mick Oxley's work.  He is a keen observer and recorder of the rhythms and mood of the sea and shore.

His work consists of two main types.  Firstly watercolour and acrylic seascapes which are painted in response to the changing weather, the scudding clouds and the roll of the sea.  This work is influenced by, among others, Turner and Len Tabner, both renowned observers of the North Sea.

Secondly, the more textural works take their inspiration from the shoreline adjoining his home, the rock pools left stranded by the ebb tide.  This has become a medium for experiment, using acrylic ink and watercolour on top of a gesso base.  Repeatedly seen forms and motion transcribed into texture, the interplay of colour, fleeting light and flora, water and light; all fascinate the artist.

"The seascape and landscape of my home county inspire in me a feeling of the restorative, health-giving power of nature.  An ethos I feel very pertinent to the world at present"

The resulting canvasses range from small square macro views of a spectacular natural world, to large sweeping vistas over single twin or triptych canvases encouraging an often unconscious immersive response on the part of the viewer.  Mick's work can be viewed at many leading galleries throughout the North-East and Scotland.

Last year, his paintings were exhibited at the Affordable Art Fair, London.

A full range of Mick's originals and prints can be browsed through at his

web site:  www.mickoxley.com