Martyn Dukes
Drawing and Painting
I am drawn to all manner of subjects, often working in series, but as a painter I am fascinated by colour, surface and texture. My artwork also has strong, clear links with the places I spend time in. In one sense, they are outsized, private postcards, and like an old postcard, they can be particularly evocative.
Larger paintings are calm, detailed and carefully composed. Each is developed over periods of preciously garnered time, for like any artist-teacher, finding the right rhythms and working routines can be difficult. Each pays homage to the tranquillity of an Edwardian landscape tradition and to the watercolour paintings and pencil drawings by my Great Grandfather, a member of the Royal College, that hang on the walls of my family home. It is largely this influence that stimulated my passion for sketching the world around me. Ironically, in contrast to my larger works, they are always freer and often convey a dynamism and expressiveness missing from some of my finished painting. For me, both ways of making art are satisfying, but if I have an artistic ambition - and some courage – it would be to ultimately achieve one with the other.
