G George Bowden – Artist
I aim to create a visual experience through both colour and texture. I explore the impact on the senses of everyday scenes and objects.
My approach is very much a process: A journey of exploration and discovery. Not all journeys end well. Not all pictures make the gallery!
I came to painting later in life and am largely self-taught. However, I have benefitted significantly from some tutelage along with continued and valued encouragement, by the reknowned Scottish Artist John Mackie.
Living in Yorkshire, encourages some emphasis on the immediate locality – the Bronte landscape and Haworth. Subjects include the broad sweep of wild fell and the village as it is today. Inspiration also comes from other environs. This serves to encourage and prompt me to a broader range of subject matter. For example, I created a series of oil on board paintings inspired by graffiti seen around the area of the Acropolis in Greece. Images from my experiences of the Island of Madeira, as pastel portraits of ‘Flower Seller’ and ‘Fisherman’; oil paintings of boats and indigenous trees and plants, are also in my portfolio. In addition to the most iconic images of Madeira I have tried to capture some of the domestic elements of the architecture and landscape. These are through observations of graffiti and details from structures and settings which have fallen into disrepair. Although predominantly I paint the effects of ‘northern light’ there are some examples of pastel work which reflect and depict ‘southern light’ of Tuscany and Montpellier.
The main aim of my painting is to explore a concept of bold colour and texture. This is, most often, predominantly in oil but may incorporate mixed media. For example, soft pastel to enhance colour and sand or grit to add texture. A broad range of tools are used – palette knives, scrapers, sponges, sticks, fingers and sometimes a brush!
A range of subjects and styles are undertaken – landscapes, roofscapes, townscapes, flowers, figures, trains. Commissions are considered with no obligation to buy the finished artwork.