Blog

Over the last few months I have mainly been doing landscape and wildlife paintings. The latest, The bridge between two cities, is a prime example. A lot of control was needed to get proportion, depth, light and least of all “that bloody bridge” right. It gave me such a headache and yet, in the last few days, while looking for inspiration all I kept finding were the same type of images that I always paint.

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Anyone will tell you that Bristol has two sides. It is a city of contrasts, every rich area has a poorer area sitting right next to it, the postcode lottery to get into what are perceived as good school versus those always on the brink of special measures, the race issue, the conservative, conformist side versus the artistic, indie side. Nowhere is it more prevalent than in the difference between the green spaces (I don’t mean the city parks) which predominantly sit in the North of the city and the ever-growing built up areas. There are many boundaries between these areas but the most obvious is the Clifton Suspension Bridge, not least because it bridges the divide rather than separating it.

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We took some time out today to pop into the RWA for an exhibition of paintings by John and Paul Nash. Their exhibitions are always worth a peak especially as they only cost £5 to get in (kids go free and I had £1 off a ticket so absolute bargain).

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So I started another big painting. Everything was going well until I hit two things: buildings and bridges.

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I finally bit the bullet and took some pictures to be framed. To be completely honest it was a bit daunting, and not just because the framers are in Stokes Croft (google Tesco riots Bristol). I needn’t have worried about anything. Jane at Niche Frames was brilliant at making me feel relaxed. I was up front that I needed help because I didn’t have a clue about what to ask for.

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I keep being asked by the guy who sits next to me at work, how I decide what to paint and how to paint it so here is a step by step guide to one of my pictures.

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Last day of holiday today and lots of inspiring photos taken at Banham zoo. Last year I took this photo of an eagle owl which I turned into this painting:

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