Meet Jethro Jackson 

Born and bred 

“I’m born and bred Cornish, so Cornwall will always be home for me,” explains Jethro, who works from his studio just outside Rock in north Cornwall. 

“I love travelling and seeing different places, but as soon as I get back to Cornwall and spend time in the landscape, I look around and think, ‘Why would I be anywhere else?’ You only have to visit Kynance Cove or Cadgwith once and sit on the beach or go for a swim, and before you know it, you’ll be coming back. It’s a total and utter magnet.”

This lure of the Cornish landscape – and the layers of history woven within, from mining to modernist art – is clear to see in Jethro’s work. From luminous seascapes to abstract paintings inspired by days aboard a fishing boat, a kind of tidal creativity runs through his practice. 

We dive deeper into his inspirations and aspirations…

My Watergate Bay series will be a response to the space and what the beach means to people. All those memories and sensations of the Cornish landscape and our interaction with it – whether that’s surfing, dog walking, or a pint on the deck...

Upcoming hotel residency 

His upcoming residency at Watergate Bay will tap into the energy and emotion of the beach:

“I’m really excited about my residency at Watergate Bay Hotel, mainly because it gives me a chance to produce a series of paintings which have an element of transition from my previous work to what I’m doing now with the more abstract pieces.

“The series will be a response to the space and what the beach means to people. So all those memories and sensations of the Cornish landscape and our interaction with it – whether that’s surfing, dog walking, or a pint on the deck. 

“I’m only at Watergate for a finite amount of time, so my process when I’m there will be creating a collection of drawings to inform the paintings and also talking to the guests, asking if they’ve been before, what they love about the place, what draws them to it. It’ll be those sorts of emotions and that sense of connectivity that will hopefully drive the series forward.”

Once I started, I couldn’t stop painting abstracts – the work itself and the drive to do it was all-consuming. It’s still landscape-based, but there’s a more multi-layered narrative.

“Sam fishes only with a rod and line and something called a gurdy, which pulls the mackerel in. It’s a simplified, low-impact process. The quality of the fish he catches – most of it is eaten raw – and the pure respect that Sam and the chefs he supplies, like Nathan Outlaw, have for it, is inspiring. It left me feeling that we need to respect the ocean and its resources and realise that eating fish should be a celebration; a very special thing. 

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not perfect. I’m very much a voyeur as all artists are, but I’ve worked with charities like Beach Guardian [£1000 from the sale of each of Jackson’s ‘Golden Swell’ prints goes to Beach Guardian, a local charity working to empower communities against plastic waste] and I’m hoping to work with them again.”

Abstraction has opened up new avenues for his work:

“The wonderful thing about abstraction, for me, is that it’s not purely the aesthetic of a beautiful view. There’s something deeper for people to unpick if they want to; the opportunity to say something more; and that’s the bit I find exciting.”

His Watergate Bay series will show a fresh perspective:

“When I’ve painted Watergate in the past, I focused on aspects of the view that have a vanishing point. So I’d be looking to Porth Island and then the cliffs. And I think that will still be a focus during my residency, but I’m going to try and look afresh with slightly different eyes. 

“If you stop and look, there are some really lovely elements of abstraction going on around the hotel, like looking through a window into another window and the space beyond. So I think that’s going to draw my attention, which means I’ll probably be bouncing around all over the place!”