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Peter Dransfield says Hi.
I have wondered whether to simply cut and paste from other people's intros or go through the effort of drafting my own since many of us have had similar experiences as far as our art is concerned.
Like some here I won prizes when young (8 and 12 in my case) but had a disappointing experience at Art College. I had a reasonably good time on my Foundation Course but when I changed college to that of my girlfriend I found that my two main tutors were, rather curiously, Stalinist supporters of the Albanian Communist Party. Even more curiously they were both abstract painters and since I was resolutely figurative and of a Trotskyist persuation it was not a marriage made in heaven. As a result I spent lonely days in the life class, or writing theoretical articles on the history of art wondering what on earth I was doing there. In the end my girlfriend, who was French, decided to return to Paris and I dropped out to join her. So in 1981 I started teaching English as a Foreign Language to earn a living and am still doing now today although now I have an English wife and live in Spain.
I have painted Cezanne style landscapes/still lifes and Giacometti style figuratives over the years but realised recently that I hadn't touched a brush in nearly 15 years. I started painting portraits a couple of years ago but stopped again after moving to the dolls house I now call home and it has taken me a while to work out how to erect an easel and get far enough away from the painting not to get my nose dirty. I have now cracked the problem and now call a whole square metre in my bedroom my very own studio.
Expect me to be opinionated and I apologise in advance for my tendency to offend but I shall try extra hard to control my fingers and be the diplomat etc etc. I enjoy robust discussion and have trouble understanding that some people mistake this for a nuclear attack so just cuff me if I get out of line.
For the record I am determined to get where I can get to without tracing, projection or any other artificial aid but I see no problem with the intelligent use of photo references.
I have learned a tremendous amount reading virtually every post and there are many here I admire so this place feels like a very good place to be.
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