| Hawthorn Customer Information Tab | ||
 |
As our stock levels are low on this sought after item, please contact the gallery direct on 0161 304 7333, or click enquire. |
|
| Hawthorn Customer Information Tab | ||
|
As our stock levels are low on this sought after item, please contact the gallery direct on 0161 304 7333, or click enquire. |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
I like routine. I regard painting as my job, if there are days when I feel flat, then I will force myself to work through it. I really don’t believe in inspiration, just hard work. Though if that fails then I get my camera out and head for the hills.
I arrive at my studio around 9am, if it’s winter I’ll pop down and turn the heater on before breakfast, so it’s nice and warm (yeah! I’m getting soft after all those years in a drafty shepherds cottage) I tend now to do around 8/10 hours a day, 6 days a week, if Sally, my wife, lets me!
If I’m illustrating a book and there are deadlines then day runs into night - you do what you have to do.
I always listen to music; either jazz or classical. In fact music is incredibly important to me. I play clarinet and sax in a jazz band and over the last 15 years we have built up quite a local reputation, so over the year we do a lot of travelling to gigs and it’s a great way of getting out of the studio and spending time with good friends.
I tend to work on 5/6 paintings at once.
First I have to prepare the canvas so it has a suitable texture; this is one of various techniques I have developed as an illustrator over the years, to create a predominately acrylic texture paste. Though it’s not an exact science so if you’re working on a number of canvases it’s surprising how varied they can be, which is good because the decision of what you paint next can be determined by this first step.
The earlier paintings were in oil, but as I use a palette knife and a great deal of paint to build up texture, it took forever to dry, especially white.
So I now use acrylic, which has changed the feel of the work, less painterly and more graphic, which I rather like.
to expand view
