About
Being from a Devon farming background Andrew has a strong connection to the land and coast that he has spent his life capturing in his work. Since his early teenage years Andrew has been fascinated by the natural world that surrounded him in rural Devon, and trying to capture his surroundings from an early age was the beginning of a long career as an artist. This interest took him to Eastbourne College of Art after school where he studied ceramics and furthered his fascination with the natural world by focusing on wildlife illustration. After completing his studies Andrew produced natural history illustrations for numerous wildlife books, but this soon became too creatively restrictive. Painting landscapes directly from nature allowed Andrew to capture the views and atmosphere of the Devon countryside he knew so well. Since then Andrew has found paintings from life a very rewarding creative direction, wether that be on the sun baked cliffs, deep in the South Hams valleys or smothered in the dense Dartmoor mist.
In 2011 Andrew’s career took a new direction after being approached by the Royal Marines who appointed him as their official war artist. The summer of 2011 saw Andrew’s focus shift from the soft, fertile, pastoral scenes of South Devon to the desert war zone of Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Andrew was stationed at camp Bastion and taken out to military outposts to sketch landscapes, soldiers and scenes of military life. Whilst war is never a pleasant experience it was a deeply important learning experience for Andrew, and allowed him to meet many fascinating people, and work on a totally different subject matter to his familiar Devon landscape.
Since his tour of Afghanistan Andrew has been woking on a mixture of military commissions, landscapes and portraits. He is currently exhibiting at the Brownston Gallery, Modbury, Devon and is open to commissions.
Brownston Gallery 36, Church Street Modbury. Ivybridge PL21 0QR Phone: 01548 831338 Email: art@brownstonart.com