Category: Misc

Perhaps you might like my paintings or you don’t! And that is absolutely fine with me!

Art is subjective

Each person has their own pespective on each piece of art. We have different tastes, preferences and life experiences. All of these will impact on your feelings and opinions on how you feel about a piece of art. So some people may like my paintings and others may not!

Change the design

I am also a graphic designer and whether I am being asked to design a logo, a brochure or a website the client will also have their own ideas of what they want. Part of my job is to interpret those requests and create a beautiful design that meets the clients brief. Changes are inevitably requested, hopefully not too many until the client is happy. Being totally honest the final design may not something I am totally happy with, but it is not about me it is about the clients requirements.

This doesn’t happen in paintings, well not 99% of the time! If I painted St Ives Harbour, would you say to me, well I like that painting but I would prefer the boat in the foreground to be blue not red. Well you might ask, but it isn’t easy to change colours in watercolour.

Chances are, you would just decide you were not over keen on that painting and look elsewhere (hopefully choosing another of my paintings!)

I paint what inspires me, or what I love that means I do struggle to pain something I have no feelings for.

I was once asked to combine a photograph of a boat and a deserted island in the Caribbean and I really struggled with this. There were two different photographs.

Whilst I could paint the island and I could paint the boat but getting the two together took me about 4 attempts! You may have spotted there are only 3 images above, and yes you have guessed I didn’t photograph the first one it was so bad!

So I do hope you like my paintings, mainly of Cornwall and hopefully my love of Cornwall comes across in my paintings and that it invokes a similar response to you. There are some amazing artists painting Cornwall and you may prefer their paintings. That is just great because it is still about this beautiful county of Cornwall.

Someone recently said to me “I wish I could paint like you”, which was a lovely compliment but I thought you should see some of my earlier work! So I have decided to show you my earlier work, and tell you more of my story about how I got started.

Painting in Menorca

We were on holiday in Menorca during August, and it can get very hot, so whilst having a Siesta I decided to use the sketch books and watercolour pencils that my daughter Siobhan had brought with us (she wanted to go to Art College).

These were painted at our favourite spot in a little place called S’Algar and whilst I found it extremely relaxing and I enjoyed it, I was also frustrated because I couldn’t achieve the results I wanted, it all looked a bit flat. Actually it is a lot worse than being a bit flat, there are so many other trhings wrong with it! The perspective is totally wrong, not to mention the field of depth. The lighthouse (the red and white striped building), is many miles away, the watchtower, sat on the rocks is a bit closer, but it feels very close. And talking of rocks did you realise it was rocks? I could go on …

I won’t post all of my paintings from that holiday but I feel happier with this pot. It was a decorative feature in front of the holiday bungalow we were staying in. This time I didn’t have to worry about perspective or depth of field and as a consequence is a lot more successful. This gave me hope that I could improve I just needed to learn new skills.

Attend evening class

Whilst at school I was good at drawing, and in fact my best O Level was Art (yes I am that old that I did O Levels). So on returm from our holiday I decided to attend a local evening class for Beginners in Watercolours. My tutor was Rachael Phillips, an excellent teacher and I owe so much to her.

Within three weeks I produced this still life drawing of lemons — already looking better I think. I had learnt how to use the paint and blend it much better. The image at the top of a Fuschia, another still life, learning a technique called “wet on wet”, was also from those early lessons. I was really getting into this and enjoying painting.

Won an award!

By the end of the first year I painted this seascape of a wave splashing against the rocks at Godrevy. This is still one of my favourite paintings and I won an award for it!

But what about my daughter Siobhan? She did go to Art College and trained as a Graphic Designer. She is currently working as Art Director for a major book publisher, with millions seeing her book covers! So win win.

I would encourage anyone to go out and try what you want to do, who knows where it might lead.