John Waterhouse

Born in 1967, he lives in the Midlands with his wife, two daughters and a dog who he loves to go on huge walks with through the local landscape.

Began his life in art teaching painting to young offenders in a local youth prison, encouraging them to see art as a new adventure and seeing daily evidence that art can change lives.

Painted in his spare time and demand for his work began to increase.

As his style developed and he honed his skills John watched the value of his work rise through undertaking various commissions for art collectors.

Before long he found that he had enough commissions to become a full time artist.

His creative process is painstaking and meticulous. He spends a huge amount of time on each piece, producing sketches over several weeks and collecting reference material in the form of photographs then producing a very detailed scale drawing and series of watercolour sketches before embarking on a composition in oil.

Many things inspire John to paint – walking through the fields and woodlands he is constantly assailed by new ideas which he records in his trusty sketchbook.

His studio is full of organic textures and tones which find their way into his work.

After completing a picture, it is put to one side and out of sight, then a week or so later he looks at it again and usually makes adjustments in impact and atmosphere.

He describes himself as a student of light.

John’s highly acclaimed paintings range from mountains shrouded in mist to exquisitely portrayed female figures, and reflect his passion for the beauty he sees in people, places and objects.

When painting a landscape, a lot of the information is there, but more often than not he feels compelled to add or change something slightly – a cloud formation, a distant figure, or perhaps the way the light is falling – to achieve perfect balance.

“With landscapes I feel it is not so much an idea, but an ability to balance and compose what is already there.”

He describes his own work as ‘romantic’, saying “Fields and trees to me have their own character and history, just as a person does.”

He takes time to emphasise that character in each painting.