I was asked to create a wall painting of the Reverend Hawker in what was once a small store room next to the lych gate of Morwenstow church. It is rather a little more than a room with a fireplace and small bread oven. It was once used to prepare drowned shipwrecked sailors for burial. 

It is 150 years since Reverend Hawker died and so it was decided that in commemoration this small building being used simply as a store for old tools and other rubbish would be repaired and turned into a bothy for people walking the south west coast path. It was felt that a wall painting of the Reverend would add something to the space.

The painting is done as a fresco – I did both the plastering and the painting and the reverend is life size and is rather an imposing figure as you walk in to what is quite a small space.

The fresco technique requires a good knowledge of lime plastering whilst at the same time you need to know about pigments and be able to paint. The painting has to be done whilst the top coat of lime plaster is still damp so that the unbound pigments soak in to the surface of the plaster and become locked in as it carbonates.

If any section needs redoing then it generally requires that the top coat of plaster be scraped off and reapplied. So careful marking out is required and you have to work reasonably quickly.

As this was my first attempt at anything ths size I kept it simple.