Hearing in 2010 of an illustration course run by the celebrated John Ross in his neighbourhood, decided to abandon his semi-abstract oil painting for a while and immerse himself in the discipline of drawing. More »
Hearing in 2010 of an illustration course run by the celebrated John Ross in his neighbourhood, decided to abandon his semi-abstract oil painting for a while and immerse himself in the discipline of drawing.
Actually, it is a return, because Steve as a young person achieved his place in Art College on the strength of his drawing. Leeds College of Art was assimilated as part of Leeds Polytechnic during his studies there.
Steve's drawing was initially part of his reaction to nature. As a child he constantly drew animals and especially birds.
Team games repelled, so Steve revelled in the glow of recognition at school when a little knot of people would gather to watch him finishing a piece, or when he was 'commissioned '(with implicit promises of undying friendship, rather than cash payment) to make drawings of such things as the Beatles, or a speedway bike spraying up the dirt, etc.
Part of Steve's career has involved creating gardens for clients, illustrating his suggestions in the form of plans and perspectives. His interest in nature spread rapidly to the plant world as a response to the opportunity to make a living this way. He also worked in art with primary age children for many years because of the joie d'vie they bring to drawing.
Going back a little, his printmaking abilities were useful as a teenage forger, cutting tiny lino-blocks that secured free entry for his circle into the jazz and soul clubs when the pass-out stamp being used had been quickly copied from the hand of someone who had paid; an occupation not without risk, considering the street justice that was likely to be meted out.
Printmaking of a more legitimate kind is now available to him at the local independent art school, the Artworks, at Shaw Lodge Mills, Halifax, where Steve is exploring the intricacies of etching and dry-point, as well as furthering his studies in illustration and volunteering as outdoor sketching trip organiser.
The next ambition is to see his bird drawings accepted by the ornithological fraternity as embellishments to the annual bird reports (Halifax, Yorkshire, etc. - he is a keen bird watcher and recorder) as magazine illustration, and eventually to build a practice in which his work comments on the human condition; that prerequisite of Art.
His influences are John Ross, Ray Scally, Mauritz Escher, Durer, Holbein and Hogarth.
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