The Artist Peter Richards

The work I make as an Artist, mainly abstract paintings made with rollers, fingers and even brushes, are intended to be looked at slowly and given time to 'speak' to the viewer. They are intended to be the subject of your contemplation, to be lived with, to be seen when you have time. My wood-cuts also rely on colour combinations for your eye to enjoy and are both abstract and landscapes. I make small wood-cut seascapes and abstract works using oil-pastel and litho-inks. Almost all my works are one-off pieces and although I use wood blocks, often several in one print, I change the sequence and the colours used so that no two are alike.  I have just poured out the passage below, without recourse to books or Google.  I am amazed, having just read it to find how many Artists have had an influence on me and delighted to find how many are female. This writing may interest a few who look at this website for other information, so please take this opportunity to look further; some may find it has parallels with their own development as artists.  I believe we all own some percentage of creativity however much we might not readily acknowledge it.

As a young boy I loved images of all kinds. Art reproduced in books, of which we had quite a few, photographs taken by my father, both colour slides and black and white developed at home and illustrations in books. Although fairly Dyslexic and not able to read to any degree until a teenager I loved books, particularly picture books of animals, world architecture and exotic cultures. My childhood was without a television and the only programmes I managed to see were the underwater exploits of Jacque Cousteau.  My goal was to be a camera-man aboard the Calypso. Many of my first paintings were of coral reefs and invented fishes. Then secondary school came where I was top in Art and bottom in everything else except English. I wrote very imaginative short stories which apparently were worth having the spelling corrected by my English teacher. I managed to get a place at the Boy's Grammar School where I studied Art, English and Geography. My Art Teacher set us still life after still life painting, which taught me colour mixing and drawing. He was a potter, very skilled and taught me to respect tools and materials and how to sharpen chisels and pencils. We studied the History of Architecture and a little Art History. I promised myself I would see the Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu and all the Gothic cathedrals of Britain when I grew up. At school I was influenced by Salvador Dali, Richard Dadd and the Dutch School of still-life painting. I wanted to paint as realistically as they did.  Then to College where I was taught by a Bookbinder, another lover and respecter of tools and materials. I learnt gold leaf lettering on to leather and the technique of woodcutting, fell in love with the Japanese woodcuts of the Floating World and even bought two Kunisadas and a Kuniyoshi. The work of Hokusi and many others led me to find and love the works of craft within Japanese culture,  carving in jade and ivory, ceramics and woven garments, lacquer and enamel. I even learnt to enamel to a very rudimentary level. My discovery of printmaking led me to the great Printmakers. Woodcuts by Albrech Durer, the etchings by Rembrandt and Goya, and much later the woodcuts of Kathe Collwitz, Max Beckmann, Ernst Kirchner, Emil Nolde, Edvard Munch and Lyonel Feininger all held a fascination for me. The wood engravings and etchings of a whole host of mostly British Artists like Walter Sickert and James Whistler to those of the 20th Century, by Malcolm Osbourne, Charles Tunnicliffe, Edward Bawden and Anthony Gross, to omit dozens certainly seeped into my creative subconscious. But, probably the greatest influence on me as a Printmaker was the etchings and lino cuts of Picasso. I can say no more - or another fifty pages await !

There must be many more I have not added to this list. Titian's painting in particular, in fact most of the works from the Renaissance, the paintings and prints by Lucian Freud, the prints of Edwardo Chillida, and the woodcuts of Leonard Baskin. The graphic work of the Expressionists and which other artists have added to the direction of my creative thinking?

WORK TO COMMISSION 

If you like the art work you have seen here you might like me to make a piece for you. Perhaps you want a large 'statement' piece for your lounge, a matching pair of gentle landscapes for the bedroom or a small, abstract piece of intense colour for an alcove. Your office would be enhanced with an original print or painting to replace the faded reproduction. An original and unique work of art is not merely a bit of decoration, it can be a stimulating statement about the person you are and the quality of the objects you choose to have around you and your family or co-workers.

The work varies in price from £200 to £1,000 depending on size and which technique I need to use to complete your requirements, but we can discuss these in detail and I endeavour to satisfy your desired art work. All pieces will be unique, made with the best materials, the framing left to you to match the work and the room for which it is made.

I am willing to offer a service to Interior Designers who may have difficulty sourcing the exact size, colour combination or even a set of coordinated works for their project. I am happy to make such work for other people who might like some of the work they see in this section. I have made a six foot wide piece to go over a double bed and used the same palette for two smaller ones to hang either side of a fire (chimney) breast. Talk to me about your requirements, colour range, mood, exactly what you want and I will make you something special.