



 | |

Going Home, 61cm x 36cm,
Acrylic
Setting Out, 61cm x 36cm, Acrylic
| I started painting about twenty years ago
as a leisure painter, but I was finally able to devote a serious amount of time
to painting only upon taking early retirement in 1995. Although I consider myself to be largely self-taught, that is “learning
by doing”, I have also attended regular courses on landscape painting, life
drawing and portraiture to sharpen skills and to learn from other artists.
I meet with a group of nine other artists most
weeks so that we can paint
together; we each have our different styles and preferred subjects, and we paint in a wide variety of different media,
but we find it invaluable to swap ideas and
suggestions and to provide (usually!) constructive criticism of each other's
work.
Most of my art materials come from the excellent
mail order and internet service provided by Ken
Bromley Art Supplies and also Rainbow
Island Art.
I used to paint mainly in watercolour but
today I usually paint in acrylics, (using a palette of Liquitex and
Derivan Matisse colours), on gesso prepared mdf board, occasionally in combination with collage.
I always start my paintings from a series of on the
spot value and composition sketches drawn on a small sketch pad with
soft graphite sticks, with jottings of the key colours. This process
clarifies the main design, what to leave out or emphasise and so on.
Then I go straight into the painting with brush or painting knife, without
any prior drawing on the painting surface itself
Whenever possible, I start the painting "en plein air"
and if I run out of time or painter friendly weather, then I finish off in the studio. Coastal scenes "en plein
air" are rendered even more difficult as the tide flowing in and out
limits the time available to capture the scene before it changes. I
recently discovered the superb "Jullian" French easel,
which is perfect for outdoor acrylic painting and I now use it all the
time. |
|
Having spent my formative years on the
Atlantic coast of Devon, living within sight and sound of the sea, I am
naturally drawn to coastal scenes. Boats,
harbour scenes, old buildings and coastal landscapes in all their various moods
and weather conditions strike a chord with me and demand to be painted.
Since 1990 I have had a
cottage on the island of St Mary’s, which is the principal island of the Isles
of Scilly, located about 30 miles south west of mainland Britain. The coastal landscape and the quality of the light there is very special,
and many of my paintings depict scenes around Scilly.
My main home is in
Buckinghamshire where I mainly paint scenes of Chiltern woods and rivers, and,
increasingly, scenes of working retrievers and spaniels such as those at the top
of this page.
My paints
go with me wherever I travel overseas; in recent years
this has led to paintings of Provence, Normandy, Greek Islands, Vancouver Island, New South Wales, and
the Seychelles, all places with interesting coastal scenery.
|

Artist at work, with loyal assistant
|
|
I
became a member of The Buckinghamshire
Art Society in 1999 and was Chairman of this Society from 2003 to
2005. I am also a member of a number of more local art
societies, such as “Beechwood Artists” and the “Cookham Arts Club”.
My work is exhibited in galleries in
Scilly and the Home Counties as well as at the exhibitions of local art
societies in and around Buckinghamshire.
All images on this website are subject to copyright. © John Heywood
2008. |
go to top of page
|