Letter about painting and the garden

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Dear Monty,

www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/winifred-nicholson-1704

There are great artists who never really shouted about their art, but just got on and made it because they had a love and passion for making it. Winifred Nicholson was one of those artists. I love her sense of composition, light and colour. She is one of my all time favourite painters. When I visit the Nat. Museum of Wales in Cardiff, I make a pilgrimage to visit one of her paintings in the flesh. I stand before it and feel the breeze and the energy of the water. I admire her obvious ability to transmit life and energy through paint into my heart.

One of my treasured possessions is this book by Christopher Andreae.



I cannot paint like that, but I strive to capture something of the energy of life to this day. I have not given up yet.

I am attempting a second portrait of an artist, it is in the early raw stages of watercolour directly painted on a rough plaster surface. It has yet to be resolved, but it is to do with the person, the life within.




I am glad that anyone can enjoy this and can explore their world in this way. Just like making a garden, there are underlying skills to learn, but once those are grasped then anything is possible.

Paul.




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