Maxine’s visual works combine a sensory experience through paint and mixed media, connecting and strongly capturing the colours and true intensity of the Cornish coastline and countryside.

“It is important for me to place in a social context the culture and natural surroundings in which I live and the influences that have inspired me to view the journey that already exists.”

Maxine Whitbread-Abrutat is a Cornish artist living on the wild, North Atlantic blue coastline in Rose, Perranporth who has been inspired from a young age by the beauty and draw of the Cornish landscape. It started with childhood holidays on Cornish beaches; even though she did not realise it at the time, these were to become a pivotal influence for her creative interest in and passion for landscapes, the sea, and social surroundings.

Her practice has a focus on the emotive questioning of landscapes. She reflects on the power, structure, and beauty of the Cornish landscape, looking at the nature of its sweeping energy and scarred appearances. She experiences the landscape through the effects of place, time, movement, seas, colours, space, and the relationship it has with people. Azures, Atlantic blues, whites, ochres, and greens are evident, as are the sweeping, simplistic use of line to define and resonate the movement and atmosphere within her works.

“Those incredible edges and high places extend a sense of timelessness through the interpretation of colour and erosion; they spill into layers defining a community scarred by man.”