Tony Bird's Biography

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I have drawn and painted since I could first hold a pencil and brush. I mainly work with watercolours, though from time to time I use watercolour crayons for preliminary out-door work. Working out-doors is always enjoyable if often frenetic; feverishly working against a change in light or tide means you have to prioritize what elements of the painting can be left and what can’t. My first attempts at out-door work were as a boy working on a farm in my native Yorkshire where I would try to capture some of the events and scenes on the farm through pencil sketches and crayon. While on a school trip to the Lake District our party visited the studios of Heaton Cooper and there my interest in watercolour took hold.
In recent years my work has tended to be looser and freer, though paradoxically one of the difficulties of moving toward this more impressionistic method of painting is a need to exercise a greater control on the painting process and thereby produce the best qualities of the medium. A successful painting in my view is a lot to do with the subtlety of tonation and suggestion. Watercolour is a demanding medium, once committed there is no going back; the line between success and failure is a narrow one!
My inspiration for watercolour painting comes from a desire to capture the mood and character of what I see and is enhanced by studying the work of established and contemporary artists such as Seago, Hilder, Wesson, Yardley and Chamberlain.
Living in Exeter I have the good fortune to have a wealth of inspirational subject matter within easy reach of my doorstep, ranging from estuary, moorland and townscapes and these tend to be the main focus of my work. As well as other parts of the UK, Florence, Venice, Rome and Brittany make up the remainder of my portfolio.

Tony Bird - Devon,