A HAUNTING sense of ‘lost horizons’ flows through leading Royal Academician Norman Ackroyd’s masterly one-man show at Watts Contemporary Gallery in Compton.

In a mighty odyssey spanning nearly 50 years, the artist has visited and captured the string of islands that hug the west coast of Britain – from north of Shetland to the most south-westerly point of Ireland.

His 950-mile journey is charted in a map for gallery visitors pinpointing the locations that inspired each of the 48 artworks on display.

The salty tang of the sea is almost palpable in each atmospheric aquatint of a frequently fantastically shaped rocky promontory, battered by the elements or shrouded in mist.

Rolling waves and curtains of rain heighten the drama, as does the changing light, and the effects are skilfully accentuated by the artist’s delicately nuanced monochrome palette that shifts from inky black to greys and whites.

Ackroyd sketched his islands on the spot – often from a boat – and sometimes also etched at the scene.

His notes about the vanished communities that once lived on these ocean outposts adds to the pathos.

Shifts in the weather are captured in theatrical contrasts. In Stac an Armin Evening, the ‘warrior stone’ is a jagged black shard, contrasted with its companion promontory lit as a dazzling shaft of light.

A solitary watercolour St Kilda Morning is also the only composition which introduces any colour, with washes of pale green.

Extraordinary formations have been carved out over time on many of the islands due to their exposed situations. In Gunamul, a glitter of sunlight through a rocky arch illuminates the dark depths of the foreground.

Rain sweeps across the three peaks on Treshnish Islands, viewed across a turbulent speckled sea. Gleaming slabs of what is left of the ancient ‘Black Fort’ on the Aran Islands are thrown into sharp relief by the sparkle of the ocean far below, while the spiky peaks of the Skelligs rise above roller-coaster waves and stormy skies.

The artist said: “That fringe of islands has always fascinated me.

“Lots of them were a revelation and there was great sadness in seeing the small groups of empty homes, with some communities going back 1,500 years.”

Review by Beatrice Phillpotts

* The exhibition at the Watts Gallery in Compton continues until April 19 and includes ‘An Evening with Norman Ackroyd and Ian Ritchie’ on March 26, followed by a question and answer session. Full details at www.wattsgallery.org.uk Photo by: Andy Newbold.