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ORIGINAL
PAINTING
(OIL)
(OIL)
All Paintings & Prints
can be supplied in
"ready to hang"
handmade and
hand-embellished
"Artist
Frames"
About
"Artist" Frames
All Paintings & Prints
can be supplied in
"ready to hang"
handmade and
hand-embellished
"Artist Frames"
All Paintings & Prints
can be supplied in
"ready to hang"
handmade and
hand-embellished
"Artist Frames"
How I began painting rural
scenes is simple even if it sounds daft.I
literally had just moved into my new studio in the heart of the English
countryside. I had plans for my new publishing business which I had set
up but had yet to launch. The very week I was considering which of my
fantasy works I would publish a "travelling gallery" came to town and
set up shop for a weekend three hundred yards from the new studio.It
was called "Starving Artists".Intrigued
(obviously) I went in for a look-see. There was a large miss-mash of
uninspiring Art, some of it cheap Chinese imports, and at
least one copy of a well known work by a well known North American
wildlife Artist.It soon
became apparent, in conversation, that the person running it was very,
very keen and interested in Art and running this part-time venture, but
was starved of decent work from reliable sources.Call it
a moment of madness, kindness, commercial affront, curiosity, whatever,
I don't know, but I said "I'll be back in ten minutes" and after a
quick search through packing crates back at our house, unearthed a
wildlife painting I had done back in 1973, a piece I went to my very
first publisher presentation with (and came back with a fantasy job to
do instead, which is how the whole Science Fiction thing just happened,
out of the blue) and presented it to this chap and said "would that
solve your supply issue?"Simple
story made simpler still, I painted three small pictures for him, he
bought them right off, sold all three, and he told me one, a Fox
painting like this one, "went in half an hour".I
thought - "hmmmnnnn . . . . . . . . . . "I'd
shut up shop on our global rights agency The Solar Wind Picture
Library, moved from London to "an area of outstanding natural beauty",
set up the new studio, planned the Science Fiction Publishing platform
and then, for whatever reason, the first things I go and paint have
nothing whatsoever to do with that!Then I
had thought number two - "hmmmmnnnnnnnnnnn . . . . . . . . . ."I
did a few more for this Gallery. The Gallery turned into a
fixed Gallery in the High Street, not just mobile. Then it
developed a netwok of clients. Then it sold some of my Aviation Art.Then I
had thought number three - "hmmmmnnnnnnnnnnn . . . . . . . . . ."I
realised that fame as a Science Fiction Artist (that I had never either
sought or gloated on) had, for all it's benefits (that I have zero
grumbles about) nevertherless limited my creativity. That had
to change.When I
first came to the town, seeking an idylic studio spot, I'd gone for a
Sunday morning walk and as I turned off the main road down a
dirt track towards an ill kempt and interesting looking field, a shadow
cast over me, and as I looked up, an enormous grey bird (and I had then
no idea what that might be) flew low over me and stopped bolt upright,
deadly still, near a shallow pool.I now
know it was a Heron but back then I was an ignorant townie with no idea
what it might be, but golly, did it look impressive!Then I
had thought number four - "hmmmmnnnnnnnnnnn
. . . . . . . . . . no
creative limits" (and this publishing company is my response). The
week after I'd painted that first small Fox picture I painted a far
bigger one to see if I could and this painting here is it.I hope
it brings you as much pleasure to view it as it does for me to paint it.
