Laurence Hartwell
Newlyn skipper · Artist · Forty years of fishing industry archive.
I fished from Newlyn before I painted it. Forty years of oils, watercolours and photographs — and the archive behind Through the Gaps.
Fine Art
Capturing the Catch: Oils, Watercolours, Sketches & Graphics
From the fluidity of oils and watercolours to the immediacy of sketchbook studies and bold graphic design, my work is a multi-disciplinary documentation of life at sea. Every piece is rooted in over 40 years of experience, capturing the structural reality and raw energy of the Newlyn fishing industry through paint, pencil, and pixel.
Photography
A Visual Chronicle of Newlyn: 1978–Present
An unrivalled archive spanning 40 years. From analogue film in the 70s to the massive digital library of ‘Through the Gaps.’ Trusted by the CFPO, MSC, and major fish merchants. Providing authentic stock imagery for the media, scientific bodies, and commercial publications.
Media Fixer & Fishing Consultant
The Maritime Fixer:
TV, Culinary, Literary & Research Sub-text: From advising the BBC and Michelin-starred chefs to guiding authors and PhD students. I provide access, logistics, and visual assets for anyone telling the story of the sea.
Featured Works
Karen of Ladram, RSMA exhibition 2025
Oil on canvas, 20″x30″ £450
MFV Excellent
Educational illustration
MFV Britannia V, heading south tuna fishing
Watercolour 140lb cold-pressed paper, 11″x15″, NFS
Landing line caught mackerel
Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society photographic competition winner 2019
These images are part of my ongoing documentation of Newlyn’s fishing industry. For daily updates, port dynamics, and industry notes, visit my blog → Through the Gaps
Cornish fishermen lobby protest at the House of Commons 1980
35mm film scan
Fisheries protection board the Ben My Chree
35mm film scan
Ocean Pride and Castle Wraith, mackerel fishing
35mm film scan
Landing mackerel from the Silver Harvester
35mm film scan
Original Paintings & Sketches → Shop
Shop
Image Licensing/Archive Access
Contact/Application
Industry Consultation/Advisory
TV/Film, research, sea-going advice, key key person introduction
Teaching/Workshops
I am available for on-site harbour tours or talks.
From the Harbour — latest from Through the Gaps
I moved to Cornwall in 1978 and went fishing when teaching work didn’t materialise. I skippered out of Newlyn, fished Rockall and the Scottish west coast, and came ashore in 1994 — back to teaching maths, English, art, media and IT. The camera and the sketchbook came with me the whole way. This site is what forty years of looking at the same harbour looks like.
It’s an octoplus kind of morning in Newlyn!
Plenty of action alongside the fish market this morning... with three big pot boats landing trips of octopi... inside Bay 1 of the market there were plenty of inshore fish from the trawlers that made the most of the fine weather over the weekend... though a dozen or...
Scillonian III completes her final trip to the Scillys!
As the mooring ropes are made fast... thousands turned out to see the Scillonian III tie up in Penzance harbour for the last time... there was a reception committee afloat... including Penlee lifeboat... and others with long links to the ferry... like Jeremy on the...
Downs and downs in Newlyn
After some TLC below the waterline, it's time to come down from slip... and escape the slip's cradle... before the sardine boat Mayflower heads off across the Bay only to find there's no GPS... so it's back in through the gaps... to find a berth... and get on the...