TREVOR WILLIAM HARWOOD

I have been involved in art in one form or another throughout my life. In my early years, this culminated in a Fine Art “A” level at my grammar school – a first for Ilford County High back in 1970. I then entered the City and eventually found myself at Robert Fleming & Co. Ltd. As merchant bankers, I was fortunate in being exposed to what ultimately became the foremost private collection of Scottish Art. Work by some of the great Scottish colourists like Peploe, Fergusson and Blackadder became my close friends. During these years, banking dominated my art, however through the encouragement of my work colleagues the odd commission or two did come my way. My personal favourites however have been Edward Seago, the Norfolk artist and the real founder, in my view, of impressionism, Turner. These two artists I have endeavored to understand and follow, although not always successfully.

Following a period of some 10 years with very little in the way of oils being applied to canvas, I realized I had to force myself to take time out from every day hassle in order to get back to painting, which I missed so much. So I took myself off to evening class at the local Adult Education Centre and found myself being taught by a local artist, Graham Painter. We had admired his watercolors and admitted to having one on our own walls. Going back to basics and doing colour theory was refreshing and brought me initially to the world of watercolour. Then one day, at what I thought was to be a watercolour workshop, I realised pastels were on the agenda. Despite this, I persevered, enjoying the vitality of the pastels, the marks and textures I could create and the colour which seemed to ooze out of them with the slightest of touches. The afternoon saw us with borrowed sets of soft pastels lent by our tutor. That vibrancy of colour seemed to just fly across the paper and I painted with such urgency that my fingers actually hurt and since then there has been no turning back! Exploring local scenes, primarily landscape, I reveled in this new medium.

With this new enthusiasm I then also found the confidence to start to market my work and sell a painting or two. Following some success I then realised members of the public actually appreciated my paintings, and I decided to explore competitions and exhibitions that were advertised in art magazines.

Redundancy from the City as the result of a major takeover eventually proved a blessing in disguise. The severance pay enabled a studio to be built and prompted the idea of developing a hobby into a new career. I have since had the chance to develop my painting and explore the possibilities that this and other media might bring. I am developing a new format tentatively called "fragmentation art", using blocks of pure pastel to build semi abstract and abstract works. Following demonstrations to other artists, this technique seems readily adaptable to oils and acrylics and is leading to a new workshop or two. The studio gives extra hanging space and has proved an ideal venue for aspiring artists to join me in small workshops and one to one tutorials.

With a good deal of hard work and research I have taken to teaching and developed an understanding of differing media and what artists of all ages want. The key for me is to listen and watch! I prefer not to have too much of the hands on, encouraging pupils to interpret my ideas or directions in their own way. Art after all is not a perfect science and I believe should be enjoyed and be a pleasurable experience. Talking to people about their art is never dull, and I feel I have demonstrated patience enough to guide those less advanced than myself. I have been tutoring art groups and other interested parties through workshops and demonstrations of varying length for some years now and this continues to expand. I am keen to continue becoming a tutor for an overseas painting holiday group, always relishing the thought of sharing my enthusiasm for the unique light and scenery. It is my hope that I can encourage others to explore and tread a path similar to my own and maybe, just maybe, experience that first injection of life and wonder into another aspiring artist. Only time will tell how successful I will be.

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