David Hockney – Pop Art/Multiple Mediums

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January 5, 2012

Sometimes we deviate away from the world of watercolour and this article is one of those deviations.  It’s timely however as David Hockney has recently exhibited at the Royal Academy and is a British artist who has been massively influential in the field of Pop Art in particular.

Hockney was born in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1937 and, after attending the Bradford College of Art, enrolled at the Royal College of Art in London in 1959.  It was here that he was taught by the notable American Pop Artist Ronald Brooks Kitaj who almost certainly influenced him along that path.  From this point on it was clear Hockney was an artist with no little talent, especially in the field of Pop Art, but his first pieces of work such as We Two Boys Together Clinging (1961) owed more to expressionism than to any other school.

We Two Boys Together Clinging, (1961)

We Two Boys Together Clinging, (1961)

David Hockney’s Pop Art career was kickstarted after he visited the United States in 1963, hooking up with Andy Warhol and presumably the other creative types who associated with Warhol during that period.  Not long after this visit he relocated to California where he began to create the series of paintings featuring swimming pools which could be argued define Hockney’s Pop Art work during this period.  The lively colours and realistic tone of the paintings marked Hockney out as an innovative Pop Art talent.

Picture of a Hollywood swimming pool (1964)

Picture of a Hollywood swimming pool (1964)

David Hockney’s career has been one of innovation, new mediums and a desire to understand new technologies and how they integrate with art.  He became a talented photographer during the late 1960s and even gave up canvas for photography for a period before returning to painting. He has designed magazine covers and stage sets for ballets and operas.

A Bigger Grand Canyon (1998)

A Bigger Grand Canyon (1998)

Still working today, Hockney is still innovating, notably using iPhone and iPad applications to create portraits.  In 1998 he created what is arguably one of his most memorable works of art, 60 separate paintings which fit together to form one giant painting entitled A Bigger Grand Canyon (1998).

David Hockney has been described as one of the 20th century’s most influential British artists and it’s not hard to understand why.

Categories: English Artists, Non-Watercolour Artists.

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Rowland Hilder – English marine and landscape painter

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September 29, 2011

Rowland Frederick Hilder was an English marine and landscape artist and whilst he may not be as well known as Turner, he has still gained the reputation of being ‘the Turner of his generation’.

Hilder was born on 28 June 1905 in Greatneck, New York, where as a child he caught his first glimpse of pictures hanging on walls when his father took him to the mansions of the resident millionaires.  When the First World War broke out in 1914, the family decided to sail back to England.  A perceptive schoolmaster recognised that Hilder had a natural talent for drawing and set him on the road to Goldsmith’s College School of Art in London where he studied in the 1920s.

He decided early on that watercolour painting was what appealed to him most, however he could find no one to teach him so he taught himself, by studying the classic English masters.  Hilder went on to become a distinguished painter of oils and watercolours, as well as illustrator for numerous books including Moby Dick, Treasure Island and Mary Webb’s Precious Bane.

However his favourite painting country was the rolling northern downland in Kent, from Shoreham eastwards towards Maidstone. He was also a great sailor and kept a coastguard’s cottage at Shell Ness, at the mouth of the river Swale, as his base for marine painting.

Hilder was the first to see the drama and picturesque beauty of the oast-houses in Kent with their white caps and surrounding orchards and he shares with John Constable the distinction of having seen an entire region of England identified with his name and art. The description ‘Rowland Hilder country’ attached primarily to the weald of Kent evokes a landscape as distinctive as ‘Constable’s country’ along the Suffolk Stour.

He died on 21 April 1993 in Greenwich, London and following his death the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, for whom he had served as President from 1964 to 1974, honoured him by instituting an annual Rowland Hilder award in his memory.

Categories: English Artists, European Artists, Watercolour Facts.

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2011 Winners of the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition

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September 22, 2011

Following on from our last post, here are all the winners of this year’s Sunday Times Watercolour competition.

First prize – £10,000 – John Hunt

John Hunt studied Art and Design at the Hammersmith College of Art in London (1972-76) and later Graphic Design at Reigate College of Art (1986-88).  He has worked as a Freelance Illustrator and Lecturer teaching Art in Adult Education.  John’s prize winning painting, “A Hill Near Stroud”, was painted on a recent visit to the area with his wife.

'A Hill Near Stroud' by John Hunt

Second Prize – £6,000 – Jonathan Pitts

Jonathan Pitts studied Fine Art at Falmouth College of Art (2002-05) and since then he has had numerous exhibitions.  Jonathan is a young and emerging ‘en plein air’ landscape artist.  He makes all his paintings outside from start to finish, often in adverse weather conditions.

'Twilight 14/12/10, Pensham' by Jonathan Pitts

Smith and Williamson Cityscape Prize – £1,500 – Dennis Roxby Bott RWS

Dennis Roxby Bott studied at the Colchester School of Art followed by the Norwich School of Art.  He became a member of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1983.  Architecture has provided the inspiration for much of his work.  He has had several one man exhibitions and has had work commissioned by the National Trust and Sothebys, among others.

Vintage Classics Prize for Cover Art – £500 – Philip Ciolina

We mentioned Philip Ciolina’s work in our last post.  He studied painting at the RCA  in London and the Cite International des Art in Paris.  He has exhibited internationally (Italy, Spain, Germany and the USA) and his work has been displayed at the Hayward, Barbican, Art First and the Fine Art Society.

Highly Commended – Ruth Berry RWS

June Berry studied painting at the Slade School of Fine Art in London.  In 2001 she was elected vice president of the Royal Watercolour Society.

Highly Commended – David Paul Gleeson

David Gleeson is based in Stafford and studied Visual Art at Aberystwyth University.

Categories: English Artists, European Artists, Exhibitions, Watercolour News.

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Artist John Knapp-Fisher marks 80th birthday with exhibition

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August 2, 2011

John Knapp-Fisher is one of the best-loved artists of the Welsh coast and today, 3rd August 2011 he celebrates his 80th birthday.  And to mark this milestone birthday, John’s about to stage one of his biggest exhibitions yet, which he has been working towards for the last two years.

Knapp-Fisher was born in 1931 in London.  After studying graphic design at Maidstone College of Art, John first worked as an exhibition designer in London and it was here in 1958 that he began to concentrate  on painting and exhibiting.  He later became the set designer for the Theatre Royal Margate and the Castle Theatre Farnham.

He moved to Pembrokeshire in West Wales in the mid 1960s, and his lifelong love of boats and the sea – he built them, sailed them and later lived aboard one for several years – is reflected in much of his subject matter, as is his love of the Pembrokeshire landscape.  Indeed, his name has become synonymous with Pembrokeshire landscape painting and his work is highly sought after – he has exhibited widely in Britain and abroad, including mainland Europe, Africa and North America, and has developed a large and loyal following.

Today his work is represented in many public and private collections, including National Museum Wales, the National Library of Wales and The Contemporary Art Society for Wales.

Talking about his forthcoming 80th birthday exhibition, John says “I think this collection is one of my best as I’ve been working towards it for two or three years. I shall not be going on to have too many more big shows – I’m more interested in retrospective shows now.”

The exhibition, which will consist of almost 50 paintings will be shown at the Martin Tinney Gallery, Cardiff from 4 to 27 August 2011.  As well as some of the striking white-washed cottages for which he’s become famous, the latest collection will include scenes of Pembrokeshire as well as images of London and the Suffolk coastal town of Aldeburgh where he once lived.

 

Categories: English Artists, European Artists, Exhibitions, Watercolour News.

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Copley Fielding – English watercolour painter

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July 26, 2011

Anthony Vandyke Copley Fielding, commonly called Copley Fielding was an English painter who was famous for his watercolour landscapes.  In fact Fielding came from an entire family of artists but he was the most well-known.

He was born on November 22 1797 in Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax, England and at an early age he became a pupil of John Varley (see previous post entitled “John Varley – Watercolourist & Drawing Master”).  He even went on to marry Varley’s sister-in-law in 1813.

In 1810 he became an associate exhibitor in the Old Watercolour Society and then three years later a full member.  He went on to become the President of this Society, later known as the Royal Watercolour Society, in 1831, a position he held until his death (see previous post about the “History of Royal Watercolour Society” for more information).  In 1824 he won a gold medal at the Paris Salon alongside John Constable and Richard Parkes Bonington.

Like his teacher before him, Fielding also engaged largely in teaching the art but unlike John Varley he made ample profits.

Copley Fielding’s paintings were always highly popular with purchasers as he was an artist of much elegance, taste and accomplishment.  Early in his career he specialized in scenes of Wales and the Lake District, occasionally in oil colour but his preferred medium was always watercolour.  He was enormously prolific and much of his later work is repetitive.

From 1817 he spent much of his time on the south coast because of his wife’s health, and turned increasingly to seascapes and marine subjects.  He died in Worthing, Sussex on March 3 1855.

Today, specimens of his work from 1829 to 1850 can be seen in the water-colour gallery of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London as well as other major museums. Among the engraved specimens of his art is the ‘Annual of British Landscape Scenery’ published in 1839.

 

 

Categories: English Artists, European Artists, Watercolour Facts.

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John Varley – Watercolourist & Drawing Master

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July 20, 2011

In a few of our previous posts, we have made mention to John Varley in his capacity as an art teacher and the influence he undoubtedly had on his pupils, such as David Cox and Peter De Wint, so we thought it appropriate to learn a little more about this celebrated teacher who was also an excellent watercolourist in his own right.

John Varley was born in Hackney, London on 17 August 1778. His father, Richard Varley, had settled in London after the death of his first wife. For a brief time John Varley was employed by a portrait painter and then, at the age of 15 or 16, he attended an evening drawing school twice a week in Holborn, London run by Joseph Charles Barrow.  It was Barrow who took Varley on his first sketching tour to Peterborough from which he was to emerge as a professional painter.

Throughout his career he worked primarily in watercolour and was particularly skilled at the laying of flat washes of watercolour which suited the placid, contemplative mood that he often sought to evoke.

In 1798 he exhibited a highly regarded sketch of Peterborough Cathedral at the Royal Academy and became a regular exhibitor at the RA until the foundation of the Old Watercolour Society in 1805 (see previous article ‘History of the Royal Watercolour Society’).

As one of the founders of the OWS Varley exhibited many pieces there, over 700 drawings in total.  In between sketching expeditions to Wales and Yorkshire, he executed topographical views of towns, particularly of half-timbered buildings in Hereford, Leominster, Conway and Chester, drawn in the picturesque idiom of the late 18th century.

As previously mentioned, he also became a highly successful drawing master with pupils including David Cox, Copley Fielding and John Linnell but despite his success he was constantly in financial difficulties.

He died in London on 17 November 1842, aged 64.

 

 

Categories: English Artists, European Artists, Watercolour Societies.

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Kieron Williamson – Child Artist & Prodigy

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July 14, 2011

If we were to first show you one of Kieron Williamson’s paintings, we think you would be impressed by the standard.  However, if we were then to tell you that Kieron is still only eight years of age, we think you would be blown away.

Kieron was born on 4th August 2002 in Holt, Norfolk and was a typical energetic toddler who showed little interest in drawing until he was five years old, when, on the family’s first holiday to Devon and Cornwall, he was inspired to start drawing the boats and scenery.  “At the time, they were like the drawings of most five-year-olds” said his mum, Michelle “but he really took off after going to some art classes.”

As time progressed, so did Kieron’s abilities.  Whilst his parents, Michelle and Keith were not themselves artistic, they did enjoy art and collected works by Norfolk artists, so, when Kieron started to ask for help with putting paintings together, his parents turned to their local galleries and the artists who exhibited there for help.
During the summer of 2008, aged just six, Kieron used to spend an hour a week with Carol Pennington at ‘The Last Picture Show in Town’ in Holt and whilst Carol’s style was very contemporary and gave Kieron an opportunity to ‘loosen up’, he still kept to his own style.
As Kieron’s work consistently progressed, Michelle and Keith would regularly take it down to the ‘Picturcraft Gallery’ in Holt to get their opinion, and with kind support from Picturecraft, another local artist, Brian Ryder, agreed for Kieron to attend his adults evening watercolour course in 2009.  Another huge help in Kieron’s development has been artist, Tony Garner, who offered Kieron pastel workshops and one to one tuition in the Gallery.  In August 2009, two days before his seventh birthday, Kieron held his first exhibition and his 16 paintings sold out in 14 minutes, raising a total of £18,200 for 16 paintings.  A subsequent exhibition in Holt in July 2010 saw his paintings all sold within 30 minutes, at a total value of £150,000.
Kieron has become a global phenomenon and has been described as a child prodigy.  His paintings have sold worldwide, he has interest from over 35 countries and has over 1,800 followers.

Categories: English Artists, European Artists.

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