new paintings

St Agnes lighthouse, Scilly . 100 x 100 cm acrylic on canvas.

Cornish coastline . 100 x 100 cm ,acrylic on canvas.

These are two new paintings for my upcoming aerial view show at Penzance gallery Cornwall Contemporary starting on 6th April. www.cornwallcontemporary.com

Working drawing for St Agnes lighthouse

Accident posters

Tom Ekersley

I really like these health and safety posters from the 40s and 50s ; dealing with in many cases mundane problems like worn tools and not wearing safety gear - but great and inspired pieces of graphic design. The posters were commissioned by the Royal society for the prevention of accidents and would have been hung in factories and dockyards etc, and like most posters of the era were throwaway items so few survive now.

Abram Games

Tom Ekersley

Arnold Rothholtz

Tom Ekersley

Arnold Rothholtz

Tom Ekersley

Manfred Reiss

Robin Day, 1950s. Robin is better known as one of Britain's most successful mid century furniture designers including his plastic moulded polyprop chair which sold in millions.

Painting over the Thames

I'm working on aerial paintings of the Thames now, based on photos taken on the helicopter ride with Neil Pinkett last summer. I'm really feeling the amazing history of these sites as I'm painting them, how much the architecture use has changed while the old river has kept plodding by. Back in the first half of last century this was a bustling port with hundreds of wharfes bringing in cargo from all over the world, with thousands of dockyard cranes working away day and night. By the 60s and early 70s this had all but died out, and the beautiful warehouse buildings were demolished or converted into very expensive apartments. Now much of the riverbank has been converted to soul-less money making apartment blocks and the river is little used. A reflection of changing times and fortunes.

Reading this you might think I don't like London, but its not that at all - in a lot of ways I'm just more attracted to its past than its present.

45x45cm acrylic on board

45x45cm ,acrylic on board (HMS Belfast)

Andre Derain -the pool of London 1908.

Pool of London 1930

This was a painting I found in a 2nd hand shop, of a BOAC airliner flying over 50s/60s London with all the old wharfes in use.

Frank Mason - the tower of London, 1938


HMS Belfast with the Shard shadow.

recent paintings

Double mount 60x30 cm


I'm working hard at the moment on aerial view paintings of Cornwall and London for a show in april. Looking at my aerial photos of London its all so grey ! Grey roofs, pavements, murky brown Thames - but I love all the grids and symmetry of the achitecture so will heighten it with a bit of colour I think....

One thing the Thames does have is great shadows across it from the tall towers.

Mounts bay autumn 90x90 cm

Newquay

Coast magazine

I've got a mention in this month's Coast magazine under the 'watch the pros' section. Never think of myself as a pro. The article is about living and working by the sea and how its lucky to have a creative career down here. In financial terms being an artist can be hard. Paint, canvas and framing cost a fortune, then there's studio costs and delivering work to galleries ( I've just been charged £95 for delivery of two paintings from Cornwall to a Bath gallery !!) .Added to that when a painting sells the gallery takes 45 to 50% of the purchase price. Painting is a labour of love I think.

This article mentions my next show, which is 'Cornwall and London from above' , at Cornwall Contemporary gallery in Penzance 6-30 April, with Neil Pinkett. www.cornwallcontemporary.com

London Art Fair

Bridge span ,32x32 cm

Nocturne, Mylor quay. 90x90 cm.

I will be showing work later this month with Edgar Modern gallery at the London Art fair.

The fair will be on from 18 - 22 January, www.londonartfair.co.uk .

Happy New Year !

I was clearing the attic over christmas and unearthed this poster - featuring a painting of mine from the 2004 Hunting art prizes. I remember doing this painting of houses at Perranuthnoe for a solo show at the Brian Sinfield gallery in the Cotswolds - but at the last minute I pulled it out and put it in the competition in a 'nothing ventured nothing gained' frame of mind. Anyway to my amazement and delight it won 2nd prize. This was from a field of 1,800 paintings, and amazingly enough the winner of the young artist award lived on the same street as me in Falmouth !
I remember Ken Howard was on the judging panel - so thanks Ken ! Never did get to meet him..
The painting was sold at the show to an American friend of the Hunting family, and as far as I know is now in the US.



This was a later nocturnal version of the painting, now in a private collection in Falmouth.