Hello! I’m really pleased you visited my art website. From here you can find out what I am working on now and in the past. Also, where my next exhibition or event will be. A calendar will be available to find out where I’ll be and also act as a booking tool for individual and group tutorials.
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BACKGROUND & MOTIVATION
As a child, I moved around a lot. This was both a blessing and a curse. Leaving friends behind every six months to two years and making new ones. New friends, new homes, new scenery. In the mayhem, I gained a lot of peace and tranquility from the quiet and vast places.
Some of my fondest memories are of the western isles of Scotland where I first went to school. Rugged coastline and hills. Fantastic beaches. Ferry crossings.
My summers from 1974 through 1984 would often be spent in Northern Ireland. The incredible shoreline of the Antrim coast and access to vast woodland where my uncle was a Forestry Manager had a deep and lasting impact.
As I grew a little older I was roaming through small forests in Germany feeling like they were magical playgrounds. What seemed like never-ending evergreen stretched ahead of me. Deep green, bright sunlight, and dark shadows. The smell of the pine.
In my teens, I joined the air cadets and enjoyed long walking adventures and mountain climbing in Wales and England.
In my twenties, I had three different adventures that generated a strong affair with the North Western Highlands of Scotland. If you’ve never been, I can highly recommend adding it to your bucket list. Glorious majestic mountains, breathtaking glens, and stunning inland and coastal lochs. I ended up going back for my honeymoon for a week in my thirties and long to go back again soon. Painting landscape there in the open air, now that would be magical… with a raincoat close by of course!
Although I ended up in the south and now the middle of England I still adore mountain and forest landscapes. It feels like it’s a deep and significant part of me. Working on my paintings feels like casting a spell to take me back there!
I’m now a husband and dad. My daughter’s preference for a holiday? Adventuring through woodland and rugged countryside…
MUSIC:
I adore a good gig. The really good ones have definitely affected me long term. Both in the audience and on stage.
I started playing in bands in my late teens. Guitar and Bass Guitar. Look out for music themes in upcoming oil work and past sketches. I want to try and capture the energy and mood of a performance. [The Vale, Band 2, Band 3, Dr. Hexter’s Healers, Broken Stones. Also many days and late nights playing keyboards(badly), guitar or bass in various rooms in the midlands and the south of England.]
DANCE:
Some of my favorite and very personal moments have been on the dancefloor! I’d encourage anyone who has never done it to just take a step in that direction. It could be a gig a club or a festival. For me, the beauty comes from the moment you let go and finally realise you have surrendered to the beat and are part of it. You may look great, or possibly like a goofy-looking fool, but you are being you and that’s powerful. Released from all that inhibited nonsense most of us live with ninety-nine percent of the time. Look out for dance themes in my work. [School disco 1977 slow dancing with a girl called Jackie, Folk festivals for 10 years in Oxfordshire(1992-2004), A soul club in London, Glastonbury five times, The Fridge(New Years Eve 1997), various gigs, dance events and discos over the last 40 years.]
EDUCATION:
I have a degree in psychology from East London and a Teacher’s certificate from Oxford Brookes.
As an adult, I obtained a GCSE A level in Art and Design 3D Studies from Oxfordshire.
EVENTS:
I’ve held stands at art shows in Oxfordshire and Marlborough in the UK.
Look out for me in the coming seasons at shows around the Rutland and Lincolnshire area (UK).
EXHIBITIONS:
When it’s safe to do so, I have my sights on https://www.stamfordartscentre.com/ a great resource close to where I live. Hope to see some of you there!
If you’d like to help keep my journey moving forward you can support me using Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/simonstrawbridge
Keep track of my journey and share it with others by following me using social media