by Robert Stuart | Mar 11, 2014
“I was born in 1965 and brought up in Largs, a small seaside town on the West Coast of Scotland. I found my passion to draw at an early age and I have continued improving my skills and experimenting with art all my life.
After graduating in Illustration & Graphic Design from Building & Printing College in Glasgow, I started work 22 years ago as an illustrator, 4 years later became a 2D Graphic Artist, then worked for 12 years as a 3D Modeller, I now work as a full time artist.
My style of painting varies from realism to merging into impressionism, depending on the subject matter and my ideas can come from many sources, the majority of ideas develop when I’m working on another painting.
I paint immediately, covering the canvas with a colour that will dominate the painting and then use a rag to finely wipe away paint creating the sketch to work from, this is why I generally don’t bother with preparatory sketches, if I have the idea in my head I like to start painting at once and resolve everything on the canvas, this can change as the painting evolves which makes it more exciting about how the painting is going to turn out.
I tend to lose myself in my work, I become completely absorbed, with every painting I try to create something special that cannot be repeated. I quite simply have a passion to paint and if I create something that can evoke emotions, movement, laughter or a memory then I feel I have achieved a connection between canvas and viewer.
When I leave the studio the painting doesn’t leave me, I am still thinking about it and how I can evolve it into something special. My mind is visually aware of every day life, taking in colour and shapes, watching how the light & weather can change the mood, observing people with their expressions & movement.
Cartoons are another form of artwork I like to create in my free time. I have always been interested in character design and animation from a young age, especially the great talents of Walt Disney. So, sketching out cartoons then colouring them using Photoshop, is another great hobby of mine. This is a good way of challenging my imagination to think up different characters and facial expressions to help tell a story.”
by Robert Stuart | Mar 11, 2014
Born in 1948 in Maryhill, Glasgow, John is now one of Scotland’s most loved artists. Having studied art at Glasgow School of Art from 1967-1971, he went on to undertake postgraduate studies at GSA in 1971-1972 and then a Dip Ed in 1972-1973. For more than 25 years John pursued a successful career in art education from his base in Argyll, West Scotland, rising to Principal Teacher of Art at Lochgilphead High School and Art Adviser to Strathclyde Region. Since his first solo show in 1976 Jolomo has become a highly successful artist. John has become best known for his painting of the West of Scotland, filled with colour and passion.
Giving up his teaching career to paint full time in 1997, John has successfully exhibited his work in solo and mixed exhibitions at numerous galleries in Scotland, England, Hong Kong and the USA. His spectacular career has been captured in film, in the DVD “I Know Where I am Going” by mitchellmcglone and the BBC TV Film, “A Man With the Golden Brush” and in the books “The Colour of Life” and “Jolomo – Retrospective”. John frequently features in the media, most recently on the television programmes “Blethering Scots” and “Elizabeth Queen of Scots”.
John donates a percentage of his sales to charity and makes significant donations of art work to charity each year. In November 2012, John and his wife Maureen were invited by HRH The Princess Royal to become Vice Presidents of Carers Trust. In November 2008 John was presented with an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the West of Scotland and in November 2009 he received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Abertay Dundee University, for “A significant contribution to Scottish culture”. In the 2011 New Year’s Honours List John received an OBE for services to art and to charity in Scotland.
In 2005 John established The Jolomo Foundation, a charitable body aimed at promoting and encouraging the painting of the Scottish landscape. Through The Foundation, the Jolomo Awards were launched in 2006 with the first Awards being made in June 2007 and then again in 2009 and 2011. The Jolomo Foundation launched the Awards for the fourth time in September 2012. The Awards prize pot will be £35,000, the winner receiving £25,000, making them the largest privately funded Arts Award in the UK.
by Robert Stuart | Mar 11, 2014
Roy was born in Nottingham City Centre in 1958. The son of a long Distant Lorry Driver and a Lace Maker, cobbled street were still the norm. Roy was always painting and drawing with his dad he loved pictures of Galleon ships. His work was always exhibited at school and he then became fascinated with nature in all its forms. Having to leave Nottingham due to his fathers work, they settled in the small market town of Atherstone. A whole new world had opened up as nature and wildlife was on his doorstep.
All of Roy’s spare time was now spent walking the fields and hedgerows collecting and studying nature, all flora, trees, rocks etc. Roy started to sell paintings whilst still at school. His first medium was pencils and water colours, extending into pen & ink, oil acrylic and then enamels. When Roy left school he became an apprentice in painting and decorating, studying colour, designs and specialist finishes as part of this training. He developed a flair for sign-writing which eventually became his main source of income. As painting was still part of Roy’s life, he organised his first exhibition in Atherstone Anglia Building Society. The pictures that were on display were mainly all animals.
Upon completing his apprenticeship, Roy set up his own sign-writing company this was in 1983. He was working mainly for all the different breweries up and down the country and painted pictorial signs for pubs as there was a big demand for hand painted signs. Roy was also still selling his paintings and getting commissions for peoples pets etc. In addition Roy started designing and producing painted fire screens, clocks and furniture. These were mainly sold at Country Fairs and Country Stores.
Roy’s second exhibition took place at Riversley Park Gallery, Nuneaton. This was a complete sellout of all his products and pictures. With the demise of the brewing industry, the demand for signs and sign writing declined and Roy took a new direction into painting murals in children’s bedrooms, hotel themed rooms and children’s play areas throughout England and Europe. Roy’s most recent murals have been painted in Father Hudson’s Care Homes in Coleshill. With further work commissioned. Throughout this period, Roy has still carried on painting and still does commission work for people. More recently he has decided to take his painting one step further and branch out into limited edition prints. By going down this route he is making his pictures accessible to more people at an affordable price.
by Robert Stuart | Mar 11, 2014
Adam Barsby was born in Leicester in 1969. After graduating in Illustration at The Kent Institute of Art and Design with a first class honours degree in 1992, he began his artistic career as a freelance illustrator. At the same time he began working in galleries in and around London. This is where he saw painting and fine art as a vehicle not only to successfully finance himself, but as a means to express his creativity.
Since turning fully professional in 1996, Adam has been awarded a number of accolades which include Best Up and Coming Artist 1999, Best Selling Artist of the Year 2000, and no less than three nominations for Best Published Artist.
For the last two years however, Adam has sought to redefine his style. Figurative work has enabled him to express his ideas about love and our journey through life. Landscapes, Cityscapes and Seascapes are also common themes that help express his love for the world around him.
His artistic influences are clearly seen in his work. Stanley Spencer has been a long-term inspiration, so to that of the naive genre of art initiated by Alfred Wallis. His deepest passion however is his love for the sea. You will notice that many of his compositions are based around coastal and harbour scenes and this provides the backdrop to many of his themes.
by Robert Stuart | Mar 11, 2014
Glasgow born, Dronma studied at Laurel Bank and then Glasgow School of Art, where she graduated in 1969. After studies at Jordanhill College of Education, and a period of teaching she became the Art Director of Glasgow Arts Centre. Eventually she moved to rural Stirlingshire while she was bringing up her family.
Until April 2008 Dronma was a part time lecturer at Forth Valley College. She now devotes her time fully to her painting, And is a past president of Glasgow Society of Women Artists. Awarded Scottish Amicable Award 2007 125th Anniversary Exhibition.
Her paintings have gained her a fine reputation amongst discerning buyers of contemporary Scottish Art, as a “New Scottish Colourist”. Her expressive landscapes may be wild and windswept, but they also gleam with an inner light. Her work has been exhibited all over the United Kingdom, and are in private collections world-wide. In 2008 she took part in the Primavera Art Rotterdam, and also exhibited in Vienna. Dronma’s work is also in a private collection in Delhi.
Her unusual name is her Tibetan Buddhist name, since becoming a Tibetan Buddhist in 1976. I love the changing moods of light, colour and atmosphere, and I am fascinated with the vibrancy of change, the point of “in-between”.
by Robert Stuart | Mar 11, 2014
Born in Pembrokeshire, West Wales in 1964, Bryan Evans has been based in Glasgow, Scotland, since 1988. He specialises in paintings & prints of Glasgow, Edinburgh and other Scottish towns & cities.
He is predominantly a watercolour painter and also produces etchings and mezzotints, as well as a range of reproduction prints. His watercolours and prints have achieved widespread recognition in Scotland, and he was once memorably hailed in the Glasgow Herald as the “New Scottish Impressionist”.
