two beautiful paintings to celebrate Provident’s 100th year
During Provident’s centenary voyage to Brixham we invited artist Simon Manfield on board. He created two beautiful paintings of Provident to celebrate her 100 years of sailing.
These are now available as a limited edition prints.
BY ARTIST SIMON MANFIELD
In May 2024 - Provident’s centenary year - visual artist Simon Manfield worked on board Provident as Artist in Residence. Simon joined the crew in Brixham, Devon as she and other Brixham trawlers were celebrated as part of the Brixham Heritage Sailing Regatta.
Two gouache paintings on paper were completed in August; a print of one now hangs below decks. Giclee prints in limited editions of 100 are now available to purchase.
More of Simon’s work can be viewed on his website.
“I produced four sketches for Steve and Morag on my return to my studio from Brixham. Originally there was to be just one image used to be made into a finished gouache painting, then photographed and turned into a Giclee print by Charlie Meecham (Charlie Meecham — Foldworks). The choice was narrowed down to two of the four, but deciding between those two was not as straightforward as first thought. Steve was keen on one while Morag preferred the other. We decided then that I would make a finished artwork of both. ”
Provident bearing away
“Provident bearing away” portrays Provident in a calm, tranquil setting. This was drawn from a photograph taken while following Provi in the tender. There is an ease to this composition. She faces to the right of the picture plane and could be heading out to sea. Her passage will take her beyond a headland visible in the distance. The colour palette is muted which adds to the calm air of the piece, as does the reflection on the still sea. I liked the fullness of her sails in this piece. This again complements the tranquillity of the narrative, helped I think by the composure of the crew on-board.
PROVIDENT REACHING
“Provident Reaching” comes from the idea to depict a monochrome Provident in the foreground symbolising the Provident of old looking towards a dynamic Provident of today from the foredeck.
For this piece I worked from a photograph taken from Provident looking towards the passing lugger Le Grand-Léjon. I like the tension between the two vessels, this adds some conflict to the narrative as the two vessels head towards each other. The jib and foredeck of Provident at the right bring the viewer into the picture plane, accentuating a feeling of being part of the action. I replaced Le Grand-Léjon with an image of Provident taken from the tender. This is a completely different atmosphere compared to Morag’s painting. The sails in this piece are shaped like sickles and present a feeling of urgency and dynamism.
Simon Manfield is a visual artist based in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. His background is peripatetic; a childhood and adolescence in Australia, and later a formative move to Scotland gave grist to the blossoming of his arts practice. His practice uses drawing and painting to describe themes of historical memory and narrative and has an overarching engagement with the passage of time and its effects on humanity and the environments it occupies and inhabits.
Since 2003 he has worked on three major drawing projects. The first two, Memoria Histórica, a series of 60 drawings documenting the excavation of a Spanish Civil War era mass grave in Valdediós, Asturias in
2003, and Orcadians: Seven Impromptus, a collection of 16 paintings and drawings illustrating a poem cycle by Orkney writer George Mackay Brown, have seen success through exhibitions held both nationally and abroad. The work made for Orcadians was published as a limited-edition hardbound book by Kettillonia in 2016. These two projects are thematic antecedents to his most recent and ongoing work: St Kilda: monument and memory, a collection of drawings exploring ideas of migration, belonging and space. The title comes from the relationship between the archipelago’s monumental landscape, the sea that surrounds it, its people and how throughout history each has left its mark on the other.
He has also worked collaboratively with curators and artists on projects as diverse as a large-scale earthwork drawing made for the 2014 Tour de France’s Grand Depart in Yorkshire and smaller-scale commissions with designer James Langdon and artists Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan. His artwork is represented in private and public collections, including work with Tatham and O’Sullivan in the Judith Rothschild Foundation Drawings Collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
For an overview of Simon’s practice please refer to his website at