Designed to keep you up to date with what David is working on at the moment, this page features recent paintings and drawings, as well as other projects he is involved with.
He is on the management committee of Bath Artists’ Studios where he has a studio. BAS are in the process of trying to acquire a permanent site that will include a gallery, schoolroom, sculpture studio, printmaking facilities, café and drawing school.
The picture I have been working on for over two years is now complete. It has been a challenge in more ways than one, but I think it achieves what I wanted it to when I started. I have submitted it for the Threadneedle Prize, but if it doesn’t get in I have other plans for it. Now I want to tackle something even bigger, but get paid for it this time.
When I have a bit of time to spare, usually on a Friday afternoon, I like to paint one of the regular visitors to the coffee house downstairs. The studies measure 10 x 8 inches and take around a couple of hours. They are fun for the sitters and and good practice for me, and here they are on the wall of the shop as you come in the door.
My youngest daughter Maya and her husband Kevin opened Java Coffee House in Bath just one year ago. They offered me use of a room on the top floor as a studio so I now work from there, having sublet my studio at Bath Artists’ Studios. It is a light, airy room that overlooks Kingsmead Square. You are very welcome to drop by and see me there, and to enjoy some of the best coffee and cakes anywhere.
My portrait of Sir Martin Evans, commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery, was unveiled today. Sir Martin, with his two colleagues, Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies, was awarded The Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine 2007 “for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells”.
One of my paintings featured in a new 10 part series, in which a panel of three art experts searched for ‘great art’ from both amateurs and professionals alike for a prestigious exhibition. The Hanging Committee put their reputations on the line when members of the art establishment and the public alike viewed, critiqued and bought some of the work that was selected by blind bid.
Since the beginning of the year I have been working on a large composition that contains hundreds of figures. Broadly speaking, it is about human behaviour and interaction. It will take months, possibly years to complete, but I am making progress and this is a detail of the way it looked at close of play today.
The new website went live in February and I am really pleased with it. Adam Dale’s beautiful redesign shows off my work simply and effectively, and I highly recommend him to anyone thinking of getting a website, or of having their current one redesigned. See the link for Leaf Studios at the bottom of the page.
More of a thought than news. One day I intend to have a sale of work from my studio. Over the years the collection of drawings and paintings has grown to several hundred, some dating back over fifty years. I was planning to have it sometime in October this year but am just too busy at the moment to organise it properly, so it will have to wait.
For years I have wanted to paint a picture containing hundreds of figures, and over the past few weeks I have been working on a drawing that maps out the basic composition. The painting itself will measure 2 x 2.25 metres, and if I can pull it off I will enter it for the Threadneedle Prize at the Mall Galleries.