Wednesday 22 June 2011

Antony Bridge - Artist in Residence in early June 2011


        

Anthony Bridge was in Residence in The Stable Workshop at The Gallery early in June . We were pleased to get to know him and see him at work in our  Gardens,  Car park and Grounds in spite of the weather. He produced over a dozen  paintings;  many of which  we hope to exhibit in the Gallery and on the web site in the near future. 


Antony says
Antony's painting of the Gallery
“I enjoyed my week at the Bevere Gallery, getting to know a place by looking hard at its surroundings which builds up a relationship with the landscape and I feel more attached with the gallery.
It was a delight to get to know all the staff and owners of Bevere Gallery.”
    
    
Antony J. Bridge was born in 1980. He is a self taught artist based in the centre of the UK. Growing up in Malvern in an area of outstanding beauty, he began to understand the peace, power and solitude of the landscape and has been inspired ever since. He doesn't just paint good light scenes like many artists do, he gets out there in all weathers, rainy, grey, bright, misty and finds a location inspiring to paint, sets up either his french easel or pochade box and gets to work with his oil paints.

 He owns the Pochade.co.uk which was set up to help plein air painters across the UK, to sell plein air products, advice on plein air painting and to inspire artists to get out in the open to paint.
"As life gets more complicated we hope to bring back simplicity into your life through the pochade. This true painting with passion which captures that magic moment of light cast by the sun. This site is becoming the largest online gallery of pochade equipment and advice in the world and is growing each day."


He set up the Plein Air Society noticing that the UK doesn’t have a society like America and was needed due to the recent growth of plein air painting in the UK.  This society to brings together novice or professional painters together each month



Plein air painting allows Antony to combine his two main passions for art and nature. He can't think of a better way to spend a day than being out amongst the elements, trying to capture that special "something" about a place or time. Throughout his years of painting so far the thing he has learnt the most is; “it’s not learning how to paint, it’s learning how to see”.


His biggest influences would be the French Impressionists, particularly Claude Monet, Cezanne, Manet and also Sargent for his use of oils. Contemporary artists he admires include Neil Pinkett, Trevor Chamberlain, Jian Wang among others.


Antony's work is now praised, and collected, by many prominent art enthusiasts from all around the world from Monaco, South Africa, New York, New Zealand.

Enhanced by Zemanta
 Some of Antony's plein air paintings  he produced during the week in residence