Grasses

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Painter Charles MacCarthy presents an exhibition of paintings titled 'Grasses'. The works have inspired a new string quartet by contemporary composer Robert Peate. The composition will have its Welsh premiere at Bleddfa Church as part of the 2026 Presteigne Festival.

(Event 14 - Grasses, Bacewicz and Beethoven, Saturday 29 August, 4.30 pm. https://presteignefestival.com/events/event-14-grasses-bacewicz-and-beethoven/ )

"When I started painting it was mostly landscape but moving to Herefordshire in 1986 and with small children to look after that became more difficult so I turned my attention to still life and interiors which I have continued to paint ever since with the exception of this series of “Grasses”."

At the time (2010) I wrote;

"Going into the fields each day with my dog, I am more excited by the colours, shapes and textures that I walk through than by the distant views. The scrubby neglected bits, the bleached stems of nettles in winter, swathes of tall flowering thistles, along the old railway line, the white discs of hogweed floating amongst the blue-green shadows, fields of undulating pink and purple grasses. My walk passes through seven fields, a churchyard, a stream which I wade through and later cross again over a wooden bridge, an old railway line and several stiles and gates. It has become a daily meditation for both body and spirit, and I like the fact that it is all within half a mile of my doorstep in Kingsland.”

"Much to my delight, these paintings have recently inspired a wonderful piece of music, a string quartet, by composer Robert Peate, who was at the time a frequent visitor to our house, being a close friend of my son’s. Hearing this beautiful music now, I am prompted to do more paintings of “grasses’ and thereby extend the series.

Charles MacCarthy 2026