At present, I am a nomad and that has made internet access both turbulent and traumatic - and in any case, I was too knackered to think. Anyway, I hope you enjoy Part 1. Part 2 won't be far behind, now that I'm settled, for the time being, in a delightful oasis.
Part 1
Johnny’s evolution into the
painter he is today has been neither conventional, nor paved, nor
privileged. Neither is he one to bemoan
his struggle, often against the odds to realise his passion to paint and he
will be first to say, ‘It’s circumstance that shapes events,’ and the
circumstances of his life have shaped the artist he has become.
The first seven years of
his life spent in the village of Wortley, on the outskirts of Sheffield, laid
the foundation for his enduring love of nature.
It was idyllic: a time of security; when he was the centre of the
universe in a matriarchal family, who robbed of their menfolk by the Second
World War, took delight in cosseting this precious boy. His best friends were the vicar’s son and the
young Earl of Wharncliffe, from whom he had his first introduction to portraits,
gilded and huge, hanging in the dark corridors of Wortley Hall.
At the end of the war, his
father returned home and the idyll was shattered. John was displaced as his father re-occupied
centre stage. Riding a donkey to school,
playing in the water lift at Wortley Hall and listening to fairy tales, were
replaced by a prefab in Rotherham, parents who were distracted by their own
concerns and the relentless need to survive the hostilities inflicted on him as
a sissy outsider at a slum school in Dalton.
It was here that John’s independent and self-reliant nature was
fostered.
From now on John’s home
life was turbulent and as his parents’ marriage collapsed, he ricocheted
between Rotherham and Bridlington, finding his own ways to cope. There were extended periods of truancy. In Bridlington he spent wagging time walking
the cliffs and shore, absorbing the colours and texture of the coast. And after school, when he did attend, he would
escape to his room with a book from his father’s library. It was here that he
met Edward Lear and as he copied Lear’s illustrations and drawings, so the
corner stones were being laid for Johnny’s enduring love of topographical
drawing and painting, his sense of fun and the ridiculous.
Through books, the misfit
boy had found his means escape and solace. He began to study and learn about
early English water colours and to experiment himself. It was the start of his lifetime love affair
with painting and watercolour, in particular.
His imagination was fired by the lives of Impressionist painters. He loved the romance of struggling artists
and passionate lives; of misfits and the misunderstood and he longed to be part
of it.
Despite his fragmented
education, John’s talent for Art was recognised in school and finally encouraged,
but it was too late. By now, the fifteen
year old young man had endured enough and refused to study for his O levels in
preparation for Art School, preferring instead to secure his independence by
getting a job as a farm labourer.
Unfortunately, despite Johnny’s enthusiasm and efforts, after
accidentally releasing hundreds of chickens and being unnecessarily creative in
ploughing furrow patterns, the farmer felt that it wasn't the job for him and
gave him the sack.
Showing a rare interest in
his son, John’s father organised an apprenticeship with a firm of high class
painters and decorators in Bridlington.
Here John learned about paints, preparation and the skills and
techniques that have underpinned his eventual career as a fine artist. However, John’s fierce independence asserted
itself and at eighteen, now legally an adult, he left his apprenticeship to
become a beach photographer for the summer season in Bridlington. Between seasons and unemployed, he continued
to paint.
By twenty-three, married
with his first son and working as a painter and decorator, John was increasingly
certain that his future was as an artist and in 1963, took the decision to move
to Leeds. There, he felt, was everything
he needed to learn: art galleries, exhibitions, the university and a cosmopolitan
community: not available in the Bridlington of the time.
He took advantage of it
all, working hard as an ‘on the lump’ painter and decorator for Wimpey’s to
keep his family, now of four and to pay the mortgage. In his precious free time he developed his craft
and skills. It was a period of experimentation, with
forays into sculpture and through which, he had his first break.
