Exhibition of paintings by Aylin and Jeff Sharp coming up in Chichester

“Alchemy was the ancient predecessor of modern chemistry which, as one of its primary goals, sought to turn base metals into gold,” Aylin said. “With the rich odours of turpentine and linseed oil, tubes of paint, powder pigments, bottles of painting media, brushes, painting knives, old dried paint encrusting easel and floor, found and other objects of interest, an oil painter’s studio can sometimes have the arcane feel of an imagined medieval alchemist’s laboratory.

“Perhaps the practice of painting can be viewed as a form of alchemy whereby the artist is usually seeking to transmute pigment and media into the essence of something three-dimensional on a two-dimensional surface