Retreat

I have just completed a new oil painting which I’ve called ‘Retreat’ (see woodland section). The image is based on a walk I took in a forest near my home just before the current lockdown. Walking in nature has always helped me to calm down, refocus and clear my head and this has be particularly helpful over the last twelve months. As always I aim to capture nature truthfully without adding anything or making it more decorative.

I have enjoyed working in oil paint just lately and my next project will be larger and more ambitious.

Wandering

I took some time off over Christmas and didn’t make any art near the end of December. After a break I always like to start back with some drawing and have recently created a new piece entitled ‘Wandering’ in pencils.
This drawing is another in a series of work based on Cannock Chase but what attracted me to this scene was the snow that had covered the ground. It made a familiar view look quite different and it was interesting exploring the area from another angle.

Escaping into nature is my way of relaxing and I always feel much better after a walk in the forest. In recent times this has been a welcome retreat away from the drama of the news. I like to just walk about without a destination in mind.

It is important to me to represent nature truthfully without turning the scene into a decorative exercise. I wanted to capture the cold weather and rugged look of the winter landscape.

Happy New Year

Nobody needs reminding how difficult 2020 has been. We’ve all found it challenging and have coped in different ways. For me, I have largely shut off the news, spent more time in nature and focused on my art.

Despite all the disruption I have had several very positive moments throughout the year. I won first prize in the RBSA Open Art Competition, had work included in the Broadway Open, the Three Counties Open and the RBSA Prize exhibition. I held an online exhibition with Jemma Gunning and went urban exploring with her to find new subject matter for a third show.

In the Autumn I started working with Bullclough Art School, delivering ink pen and painting workshops. All being well, I will be running several more workshops there next year.

My drawing mostly focused on ink pens this year and I have produced some of my favourite work in this medium. Near the end of the year I started working in oil paints again for the first time in over twenty years and found it enjoyable.


My art classes will resume at the venues as soon as we are able to return. In the meantime I will be teaching online at the start of the year. New students are welcome to join.

Life is never completely bad or good - there’s always a mixture of the two. Challenges will come to us all and we just need to make the most of what we have. I feel next year we will see a gradual transition into a more ‘normal year’ as the vaccines roll out across the UK and I will continue to make more art. I am never bored!

After the Rain

I have just completed my first oil painting in a long time. For many years my focus has been on acrylic paint but I felt like revisiting oils again to see how things went. I spent a week responding to a recent visit to the local forest where it was very misty and atmospheric. I took a number of study photos and produced a small painting from one of them which I have titled, ‘After the Rain’. I enjoyed the process and plan to explore this medium further.

Inside Out

I have just completed a new acrylic painting based on the derelict Price and Kensington Factory in Middleport. This building was discovered during a day of urban exploration with artist Jemma Gunning. We were intrigued by the structure which lay abandoned and was slowly becoming taken over by nature. I took several reference photographs but it was the view of the battered old sofa that caught my eye. There was something quite peculiar about seeing an indoor item of furniture placed in front of the factory and I wondered how it arrived here. The crumbling walls and exposed interior offered so much to explore with paint and I enjoyed building up the textures.

'Guard House' selected for the RBSA Prize Exhibition 2020

I was pleased to find out today that my drawing, ‘Guard House’ has been selected for the RBSA Prize Exhibition 2020. This piece is based on RAF Tilstock, an abandoned airbase near Whitchurch. It was created during the lockdown period and is my favourite drawing I have made so far. It captures the feeling I had when I walked about the site and I enjoyed using the pens and ink washes to create the various surfaces.

The exhibition runs from the 8th October to the 21st November. Visit the RBSA website for more details.

Art Classes back for Autumn 2020

My regular art classes will return in September. The Burntwood classes will be moving to Hammerwich Community Hall for the time being and the Penkridge class will temporarily move to Haughton Village Hall. The other classes will be at Haughton Village Hall as normal. The venues are following current government guidelines around hygiene and social distancing.

Details for the courses can be found on the art classes page of this website.

During lockdown I have been teaching an online art class. Students are given access to art exercises via this website and then receive detailed feedback during each stage of the picture. The exercises cover different abilities and mediums and feedback is given via WhatsApp, email or video calls. I will continue to offer the online art class for the autumn term. Contact me for details.

Boundary

I have just completed a new acrylic painting based on an area of Cannock Chase which i’ve called ‘Boundary’. It is an image inspired by a photograph I took at the beginning of the year but felt relevant to me once the pandemic had hit the UK and we were told to stay at home. During the period before we were allowed to venture beyond the confines of our housing estate I felt very cut off from nature which seemed to be reflected in the large metal barrier in the front of the scene. I do not write diaries or share my personal feelings on social media but this painting is my response to the events that unfolded in 2020. It expresses more than I could put into words.

Urban Exploring

Last weekend I met up with Jemma Gunning to explore parts of Stoke-on-Trent in order to find derelict buildings. We have both independently worked on this theme before but this was the first time we had visited the same site. The idea was that it would be interesting to share ideas and to compare how we both responded to the same visual stimulus.

We ended up in Middleport and discovered abandoned ceramics factories along the canals. These places were falling apart and nature was beginning to take over the spaces. Remnants of the factory work shared space with litter and random debris. We found a sofa outside one place and a graffiti covered caravan too.

These places are ugly seen from one perspective but there is a peculiar beauty and fascination to them too. You think about the loss of industry but also wonder at where all these additional random items originated from. Myself and Jemma took a lot of photos that day and look forward to beginning new work.

View our current show, ‘Fragments II’.

Three Counties Open Exhibition 2020

I’m pleased to announce that my painting, ‘Union’ has been selected for the Three Counties Open Exhibition 2020. This year, due to the pandemic, the show will be held online running from 31st July to the 31st August. This piece won the RBSA Open Exhibition earlier this year and remains one of my personal favourite pieces of work so far.

I am currently building up a set of work based around the same theme, some of which features in the ‘Fragments II’ online exhibition.

Escape into Abandonment

There has been a lot of talk amongst the creative community about how people have been spending their time during the pandemic. Some artists have been very productive whilst others have found it difficult to focus on a routine. Understandably people have been affected in different ways, which has impacted on their mood.

I have personally found my art to be a way of escaping from the drama of current events whilst simultaneously looking at themes that are very real and on going.

My work studies impermanence and change. It is all around us but is not often discussed, perhaps because it is a reminder of our own temporary existence. People often resist change and want things to stay the same, which just causes unhappiness. The study of dereliction is one way of looking at this impermanence.

The escapism part comes because although the subject matter references human activity, there are no people present. At the moment social media is full of people expressing anger, frustration and sadness about the pandemic or the injustice of the world, which is completely understandable. However I have found the general negativity, often fuelled by fear, to be overwhelming and have responded by retreating into a much quieter space. I wasn’t denying reality but needed a space to recover and rest.

One of the attractions of abandonment as a subject is that is very quiet and still. It’s a time for reflection or just contemplation of the natural world as it takes over the spaces we once used. No raised voices, no drama… just quietness. I have needed this space over the last few months to cope with what is going on. It has helped keep me balanced so that I can be there for other people when they needed support.

There’s nothing wrong with making art about current affairs and many people do it well but I find dealing with impermanency to be more satisfying and fascinating. Ironically it is a subject that will continue to be relevant to future generations and will never go away!

‘Fragments II’, my current exhibition with Jemma Gunning, explores these themes in more detail. This is an online exhibition and runs until the end of the year. Take a look.

Fragments II Launch

‘Fragments II’, the joint exhibition with Jemma Gunning, starts today. The show features drawings, paintings and printmaking exploring themes of urban decay, industrial decline and abandonment. This is our second collaboration which was originally intended to be held in a gallery but now due to the pandemic is being held online. Tonight we held an online private view via Zoom and talked to participants about our working practice and shared insight into the themes within the work.

View Fragments II now.

Universal II

I have just completed a new ink drawing of the old Universal factory that was a key landmark in Stafford until the recent demolition. It was a place of work for many of the residents in the area and is known by many people. I painted the factory a couple of years ago when it was still in use but even then it looked almost derelict and worn. The drawing captures the place partway through the demolition process. Now there is nothing left.

Universal II will feature in the Fragments II exhibition with Jemma Gunning.

Fragments II

I am excited to announce Fragments II, my new joint exhibition with printmaker Jemma Gunning.

Since our first show in 2019, Fragments, we have been planning our second exhibition after seeing how well our work harmoniously sat together. 

With the global pandemic our plans are on hold. We thought an online exhibition, would be a great place to continue sharing our work and stories during these strange times. The exhibition will go live on the 15th of June and will run to the end of the year. A link to the show will be made available then.

The online exhibition will feature past work that is juxtaposed with a diverse range of new drawings, paintings and original prints that quietly celebrate the beauty found amongst the remnants of the past.

Broadway Arts Festival 2020

I am happy to announce that my paintings ‘Aonach Mor I’ and ‘Aonach Mor ii’ have been selected for the Broadway Arts Festival Open Exhibition 2020. This year the show will take place online running from the 29th until the 31st December. Work will be available to view and purchase during this period.

These paintings are based on my trip to Scotland where we went up into the mountains. I was taken by the quiet atmosphere and the mist that made everything seem very atmospheric and still. These pieces can be seen in the natural landscapes section of the website.

Guard House

I have just completed a new ink drawing based on RAF Tilstick, an abandoned World War 2 airbase near Whitchurch. The title of the piece is ‘Guard House’ and it can be found in the War Remains section of this website. It is part of an ongoing series of work based around war remains but also continues the theme of dereliction that has featured in my work for a long time now.

The building is from the same site that was featured in my ‘Union’ painting that recently won the RBSA Gallery Open Exhibition. This drawing was made using fine line pens and liquid black ink, a medium that takes a lot of concentration as it cannot be corrected once applied.

My next work will most likely feature RAF Upper Heyford, an airbase in Oxfordshire.

Park Hall

I have just completed another commission for a private collector which is based on Park Hall, a derelict building in Shetland. This building was once occupied by a doctor but has been abandoned now for quite some time. The eerie atmosphere is emphasised by the absence of human life and it reminded me of some of Edward Hoppers paintings.

If you are interested in requesting a commission let me know.

Brunswick Tower

I’ve just completed a new drawing, ‘Brunswick Tower’, which features a structure located at RAF Upper Heyford, an abandoned airbase in Oxfordshire. This tower was situated by the weapons storage area and was occupied by a single member for 8 hour shifts at a time.

This piece was created using ink pens and watercolour. Normally my ink drawings are in black and white but I thought I would try a colour tint this time for a bit of variation. The work can be found in the ‘War Remains’ section of this website.

RBSA Open Exhibition 2020

I was very pleased to hear this week that my painting, ‘Union’, has been selected for the forthcoming Open Exhibition at the RBSA Gallery. This piece depicts RAF Tilstock, an abandoned airbase near Whitechurch. I feel this piece works on various levels, the most obvious of which is a reference to the past, when World War 2 was happening. But it is also about dereliction in the broader sense and looks at how nature reclaims the space as the human made structures slowly fall apart. It is also a study of being in the present moment, in harmony with the landscape.

I am beginning to put together a number of pieces that look at the remains of war and am working in different mediums.