I am a landscape painter based in Ealing, West London. I gained a first class honours degree in 1972 at St. Martins School of Art and an M.A. at the Royal College of Art finishing in 1975. I have over 30 years experience as a painter and from 1987 onwards have also been involved with a number of large scale public art works. I have taught painting in numerous art schools across the country and have exhibited widely both as an individual and in many important selected group exhibitions. These include the New Contemporaries, John Moores , Hayward Annual, R.A. Summer Exhibition, Discerning Eye, London Group Open etc. My individual shows include those at the Serpentine Gallery and Peterborough City Museum. I have taken part in touring exhibitions to Germany, U.S.A., and Spain including a British Council exhibition to Aachen and tour also including Hodgkin, Auerbach, Kiff and Kossoff. I have exhibited in important curated exhibitions in this country at The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, Kettles Yard Gallery, Cambridge and the Camden Arts Centre. I have my work in many corporate and public collections including the Arts Council, Prudential, The Bank of England, London Borough of Hammersmith, The Open University, Peterborough City Museum, Lewisham Hospital and many more. My work is represented in private collections in all parts of the world. I have completed 8 major public art works including large scale murals at Charing Cross, Frimley Park, Royal London and Ealing Hospitals. I was recently elected member of the National Acrylic Painters Association.
The works on canvas are made in the studio always using acrylic and I also work directly from the landscape with a variety of mixed media on smaller works on paper. My paintings are begun in a loose, exploratory way using a freely drawn series of calligraphic marks, stains and shapes using a wide variety of brushes, hand, roller, scraper, sponge, etc. They are inspired by particular landscape places or events using drawings, photographs and memory of these places which are always special to me. Although spending a lot of time in Devon and the south coast I am equally inspired by local rivers and parklands close to my Ealing home. I am not so interested in the topographical exotic picture postcard view but in getting close to nature where the ordinary is extraordinary. A small part of a stream and its river bank crowded with vegetation, texture, light and colour is enough for me.
The final image is slowly extracted in a playful, organic way using overlaid marks and glazes to express qualities of nature such as mood, light, colour, atmosphere, space etc. Acrylic allows me the rich diverse qualities of paint that I need. I mix my own colours from pigments allowing me to control the transparency and intensity of the colour. I am attempting to find equivalents for the landscape in the physical qualities of paint. I want the paintings to be intriguing, tantalising and ambiguous held between the plastic qualities of the paint and all the magical illusions and evocations of the depiction of nature. The smaller works on paper are always made outside in front of the landscape and often then worked on in the studio. I work with a variety of tools and brushes outside as well as inside. I carry a large bag of rollers, sponges, scrapers, a multitude of brushes as well as lots of different media. In the studio the paintings are always started stretched on the floor so I can allow the paint to flow, spread and run into the forms of the landscape. The paint at this stage is often quite fluid and transparent. This first stage can take around an hour or so of intense activity whereas the next stages of the paintings can often take several weeks or months. After being begun on the floor the painting is then stretched onto a stretcher and painted from then on the wall. There follows a dialogue between myself , the paint, and the landscape. I try to let the paint become the landscape, rather than filling the paint into landscape shapes, in order to express a feeling of change and movement in nature.
Born 1949
1967 - 9 Colchester School of Art
1969 - 72 St. Martins School of Art
1972 - 5 Royal College of Art
Since 1975 visiting and part time lecturer various colleges incl.
Kingston, Slade, Newcastle, Hull, Cheltenham, Winchester, etc.
ONE MAN EXHIBITIONS
1980 Serpentine Summer Show 1, Serpentine Gallery, London
1983 Peterborough City Museum and Art Gallery, Peterborough
1985 Centre 181 Gallery, Hammersmith, London.
1987 Polytechnic Gallery, Brighton.
1988 Winchester Gallery, Winchester
1988 Minories Gallery, Colchester
1993 Islington Arts Factory, London
1996 Questors Theatre Gallery, Ealing, London.
2005 Tricycle Gallery, Kilburn, London
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1974 Bradford Drawing Biennale, Cartwright Hall, Bradford
1975 New Contemporaries, Camden Arts Centre, London
1976 John Moores Exhibition 10, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1979 Open Attitudes, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford
Drawing Exhibition, with Graham Crowley, Jon Holt Gallery,London
1980 Seven Painters, Kettles Yard Gallery, Cambridge, Polytechnic
Gallery, Hull, City Art Gallery, Portsmouth, Minories, Colchester
British Painters, Art into Industry, Heathrow Airport, London
1981 Studied at St. Martins, St. Martins School of Art Gallery, London
Contemporary Artists in Camden, Camden Arts Centre, London
1982 Thirteen British Artists, with Howard Hodgkin, Frank Auerbach, Ken Kiff,
Leon Kossoff, John Walker, etc. Neue Galerie, Aachen, Kunstverein,
Mannheim, and Kunstverein Brunswick, Germany
Hayward Annual, Hayward Gallery, London
London Group Open Exhibition , Camden Arts Centre and tour
John Moores Exhibition 13, Walker Art gallery, Liverpool
1983 Artists in Aid of Amnesty, Work of Art gallery, London
Landscapes, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth
1984 Painters at Winchester, Winchester Gallery, Winchester
Two Painters, with Michael Major, Woodlands Gallery, London
London Group Open Exhibition, Royal College of Art, London
1985 The Leicester Exhibition, Beaumanor Hall, Leicester
1986 Three Painters, with Jeff Dellow, George Percy Arteast Gallery, London
1987 On a Plate, Serpentine Gallery, London
Artists who studied with Peter de Francia, Camden Arts Centre,
London
Myth, Dream and Landscape, Swiss Cottage Library Gallery, London
The Broader Horizon, Southern Arts Touring Exhibition
1988 The Leicester Exhibition, Beaumanor Hall, Leicester
Modern Miniatures, Hepsibah Gallery, London
1989 Woodlands, Trelissick Gallery, Truro, Cornwall
1990 Mixed Exhibition, Woodlands Gallery, London
1991 Living Landscapes Gill Gallery, London
1992 12/19 181, Centre 181 Gallery, Hammersmith, London
Riverside Artists, Maidstone Library Gallery, Maidstone
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London
1993 Riverside Artists, Galeria Liceo Recrea, Orensano, Ourense, Spain and tour to
Casa de la Cultura, Chantado Lugo, Casa de la Cultura Monforte de Lemos
Luga, and Galeria Ansoar Chantada Lugo, Spain
1994 R.A.G. Show, Watermans Art Gallery, London
Rexel Derwent Open Drawing Exhibition, Cheltenham
Open Door Open Exhibition, Holborn, London
1995 The Sea, Beatrice Royal Gallery of Contemporary Art, Eastliegh,Hampshire
1996 First Sight, Pitshanger Manor Gallery, Ealing, London
Contingent Lots, Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London
Cheltenham Open Drawing Exhibition, Cheltenham
1997 Riverside Artists Group, Museo Municipal Ourense, Spain and tour
1998 Boundaries of Landscape Art, Small Mansion Art Centre, London
Vital Art, Atlantis Gallery, London
Viewpoints Open Exhibition, Artsway Arts Centre, Sway, Hampshire
Critical Faculty, Stanley Picker Gallery for the Arts, Kingston ,
Calder Gallery, Grand Valley State University, U.S.A. and tour
Artists in Arms, St. David�s Hall, Cardiff and tour to Edinburgh and London
Ealing Open Exhibition, Pitshanger Manor Gallery, Ealing, London
1999 Transformations, Small Mansion Arts Centre, Ealing, London
2000 Westlondonartists Sackville Gallery, Piccadilly, London
2001 Unique Visions Riverhouse Gallery, Walton on Thames, Surrey
The British Landscape Society of Landscape Painters Open Exhibition, Mall
Galleries, London
2002 Art West Start Gallery, Fulham, London
Viewpoints Jersey Galleries, Osterley House, London
Riverside Artists Museo Municipal Ourense, Spain
The Discerning Eye Mall Galleries, London
2003 Upstream Exhibition Space, Charing Cross Hospital, London
Diesel House Summer Exhibition, Diesel House Galleries, Brentford
Entertaining Mr.Soane commemorating 250th anniversary of architect John Soane
Pitshanger Manor Museum, Ealing, London
Landscapes New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham, Surrey
View Open Exhibition, Artsway Arts Centre, Sway, Hampshire
Christmas Exhibition, Blue Wing Gallery, Kew, London
2004 Opening Exhibition Blue Wing Gallery, Padstow, Cornwall
Celebrations Chelsea Gallery London
2005 Mixed exhibition August Gallery, Brenchley, Kent
2006 Westlondonartists Jersey Galleries, Osterley House, London
2008 Westlondonartists, Jersey Gallery, Osterley House, London
Ealing Open Exhibition, PM Gallery, Ealing, London
2009 Mixed Exhibition, Architects Gallery, Teddington
The London Group Open , Menier Gallery, London
2010 Ealing Open Exhibition, PM Gallery, Ealing, London
Spring Exhibition Architects Gallery, Teddington
ArtWorks Open, Commended Artist, Artworks Project Space, London
Three Wise Men with Betty Wiseman, Holly Wiseman PM Gallery Ealing
National Association of Painters in Acrylic, Crypt Gallery , St.Ives Presidents Prizewinner
2011 The London Group Open, Cello Factory , London
Small Works, Waterstreet Gallery, Todmorden
Artworks Open, Artworks Project Space, London
National Association of Painters in Acrylic, Williamson Museum and Art Gallery, Birkenhead (Adrian Henri Memorial Prize)
PUBLIC AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
Royal College of Art
The Open University
Peterborough City Museum and Art Gallery
London Borough of Hammersmith
Riverside Health Authority
Hounslow and Spelthorne Health Authority
Arts Council of Great Britain
Museo Municipal Ourense, Spain
Mill Hill Health Centre, Acton,
London Prudential Property Services Ltd
The Bank of England
Barts and the London N.H.S. Trust
Frimley Park N.H.S. Trust
Lewisham Hospital
and in many private collections in Britain, Europe, U.S.A. and Australia
AWARDS
Royal College of Art John Minton Award
Arts Council of Great Britain Award
Greater London Arts Association Award
Arts Council of Great Britain Purchase Award
GALLERIES
Rowley Gallery, London
Architects Gallery, Teddington
Waterstreet Gallery, Todmorden, Lancs.
Member National Acrylic Painters Association
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