Colour is the name of the game in Brighouse this early spring.
The Harrison Lord Gallery is dedicating its space to a selection of artists who don’t shy away from the colour palette. Brighouse artist Neville Fleetwood is featured alongside Peter Dworok, Philip Wilson and Jill Ray.
Neville’s contemporary paintings demonstrate a strong, bold use of colour and vibrancy which are developed by applying layer upon layer. He is particularly well known for his still life paintings where he positions everyday objects in carefully crafted suspended space, and landscapes which are full of atmosphere, with patchwork fields arranged into vivid abstract designs.
His contemporary paintings have created an impressive following and he has won many major art awards. Neville’s landscapes and coastal scenes are predominantly of the Yorkshire countryside – hills and cottages flattened and not in perspective. His still lifes are exaggerated not only in colour but in the shapes and sizes of the objects being painted. For him the pleasure of painting is in applying paint in bright colours thickly with brush and palette knife.
Philip Wilson studied Illustration at Wolverhampton University before training to teach art at Birmingham City University. He now exhibits at several galleries and he has sold work all over the UK.
Painting in a textured, colourful and impressionistic style, he tries through his paintings to create a modern interpretation of common themes, sometimes working in mixed media including tissue paper, photography, inks and acrylics.
Peter Dworok’s artistic interests lie in the dramatic landscape where the line of the hills gets lost in a leaden, storm-ridden sky and a glimpse of sunshine on the horizon promises a brief interlude to the wind and rain of a passing storm. The paintings in oils reflect the colour and tone that the weather brings to the landscape and the seasonal changes in mood and light.
Jill Ray has been a practising artist and designer for more than 25 years. Training first in fine art then following with a career as a landscape architect until 2012, she now devotes her time to her paintings and developing a unique technique of producing landscapes and coastal scenes using a striking colour palette on her computer.
She said: “I discovered what a great drawing tool my PC was. I really love the way layers of translucent blocks of colour can build up an image. My main concerns are colour, light and the rhythms of landscape. I am fascinated by the way similar shapes and patterns echo and repeat in the landscape as can be seen in both the striking and bold style of my prints (which often resemble the effects of overlaid layers of tissue paper) and in a more subtle and textural exploration in my paintings.”
The gallery at 5 Bradford Road, Brighouse, is open Monday until Saturday 9am until 5pm and the exhibition runs until April 19.
