Artist’s Statement

I am a traditional, figurative painter who specialises in maritime art and townscapes. I use pencil and crayon, oils and watercolours.

I am inspired by maritime art because the sea is a part of what we are, as a nation and as a region. The portrayal of trade and activity on the water have always been a source of material for artists, right up to the present day, particularly as they form part of the sense of place of where we live and work.

I sketch and paint all aspects of the sea, with a particular interest in working ships and harbours, but also in the more contemporary attitude to the sea coast as a place of recreation and relaxation- beach and coastal scenes.

I combine plein air painting and sketching for immediacy, which I do regularly throughout the seasons, with detailed research where necessary for historic subjects. I was inspired from an early age by the works of 19^th and 20thC artists from Thomas Somerscales, who introduced new and naturalistic  ways of representing ships and the sea, through to Charles Pears, Norman Wilkinson and other founding members of what became the RSMA, who painted the wealth of maritime material that surrounded them. I believe that there is still a rich seam of maritime interest in the power and drama of contemporary shipping and the sea, and I include these subjects in my area of interest.

Since I spent many years in urban regeneration and design, I also produce townscape studies using similar techniques.

I am largely self-taught, with lots of bad habits as a consequence. Let’s call them happy accidents…

I have exhibited over many years, both on an individual basis and through submissions to the Mall Galleries in London, since 1998, for the RSMA and the Guild of Aviation Artists, and more recently in the Wirral Society of Arts (2019).

I live near Chester and can be contacted by email vince1954@outlook.com or by ‘phone 07776134461.