The Mall Galleries is currently hosting the Royal Society of Marine Artists Annual Exhibition, the theme is centred around sea and tidal waters but shows a wide variety of marine art. Subjects range from deep water shipping to coastal scenes, competitive sailing to quiet harbours, marine wildlife to still life. The exhibition runs from the 30th of September to the 10th of October (10:00am - 5:00pm).

Part of the exhibition is Our very own Reuben Powell’s work has been selected to be among the artworks exhibited. His work ‘Oil Tanker I, Fawley Refinery’ depicts is painted on rusted tin plate steel using oil paints and bitumen. The work shows the more industrial side of marine art through its materials and imagery. The “Elandra Falcon” is a crude oil tanker built in 2017. Sailing under the flag of the remote Marshall Islands (home to Bikini Atoll and nuclear testing until the 1950's). Her carrying capacity is 157553 tonnes DWT and she is 277 metres long. Here she can be seen unloading crude at Fawley Refinery on Southampton Water. The sheer size of these ships at close quarters is awe inspiring and intimidating. It is ill-advised to sail in their vicinity if they are moving!

This was researched during a sailing trip on a gaff rigged yacht from Greenwich to the Solent. A vessel from another era built for a different purpose. The image is made using oil paint onto tin-plate steel. The primary layers are made up of bitumen which can be lightly worked and removed when deciding a composition. (a technique used by Turner and reputedly “one of the most unstable mediums in the history of oil painting”) Secondary layers of thin oil paint are then added slowly making up the hull and superstructure of the ship alongside graphite powder suspended in a medium, which gives the water a translucent, fluid quality. The detail around the superstructure is picked out with a small hand-held drill, the image was then left out for weeks in the rain to rust.

Check out a virtual tour of the exhibition! Or even better go and visit in person, tickets are £5, its free for Friends of Mall Galleries and under 25s, concessions tickets are also available. The Mall Galleries is based in just off Trafalgar Square, only 14 minutes from Hotel Elephant.