Nature In Winter is a mixed-media exhibition which focuses on landscapes and wildlife in the winter months. Many of the pieces, created by a variety of Norfolk artists, are based on locations in the county. The exhibition includes work by well-known local photographers Chris Knights, Patrick Gosling and Martin Hayward-Smith, paintings by Steve Cale and Claire Martin, as well as digital art from Paul Bennet and sculpture by Gyr Penn. Patrick Gosling Patrick Gosling studied at the Lincoln College of Art before starting his career as an editorial photographer. Whilst much of his photographic career remains in the high-octane world of motorsport, in 2004 Patrick bought a small cottage on the Norfolk coast. During that winter, Patrick photographed the landscapes which he had grown to love over the years of visiting Norfolk as a child. "Years of holidaying here as a kid makes the place very dear to me," he said.
 | | Brancaster by Patrick Gosling (detail) |
"Living here, I decided that there was so much opportunity that I would concentrate on the local area and keep working at it until I feel the need to venture further a field," he said. "The flatness of the landscape and the 1,000 acres of sky are the inspiration. I'm looking for graphic elements which draw the eye through the photograph," he added. A complete departure from the Formula One circuit, the calmness of the landscape and working with a traditional 5x4 sheet film camera, has opened up new areas of Patrick's creativity. All the pictures in the Norfolk series are shot at either dawn or dusk with exposures of up to 30 minutes, giving eerie, almost arctic skies. "With the whole world using digital, there is a terrible tendency to shoot hundreds of pictures of the same thing. With 5x4 inch film you have one shot, one go at capturing the drama," he said. "Because most of these pictures are shot with very long exposures, there is no time to make more than one shot as the sky will have changed. A real antidote form Formula 1 where I normally work," he added. Mixed media The exhibition features a variety of pieces from photographs to carvings and original water colours. "We're thrilled to have such a fantastic collection of pictures, paintings and carvings in the exhibition which have been submitted by 10 different artists," said Pensthorpe's Mark Noble. "We've tried very hard to ask local artists, or artists with a connection with the county, to exhibit at Pensthorpe as it's important to us that we're supporting and promoting them," he added. Nature In Winter runs at Pensthorpe until Sunday 8 January, 2006. Admission to the exhibition is free. | 
