A Painters Odyssey.
27th February - 23rd March 2010

Well…last year’s plan was to keep travel to a minimum and forgo the foreign trips. The change in outlook for both artists and collectors meant that something had to give. No more distant forays – no more of the intensity of feeling that exquisite light bringing inspiration and new colours. No new thrilling experiences on Ocean Drive, or wading through floods in St Mark’s Square. Travelling to the French Riviera for some twenty years and the States for ten – this indulgence had to change. That was the plan!

But as happens to the best laid plans… I  travelled first to Miami painting amongst the iconic Art Deco hotels and then on up to New York to study that monumental skyline – I had been working with Moderne themes in my painting and an opportunity presented itself to work there and I was not going to miss it. In early Spring I was tempted south to paint up in the hills of St Paul de Vence. A friend in Glasgow has often described the high society at the Colombe d’Or, popular with all the early Hollywood actors. This was my time to capture the mood.

The South of France always reveals something new and unexpected.  A blaze of morning sun shimmering over the Mediterranean lights up the coast. A positive glow to the world. A fresh breeze flicks up grains of sand presenting a rather familiar threat for the painter on the shore – sand blasting! The hazards of oil painting in the real world. You become adept at devising ways of coping with the elements, man-made or natural. My encounter with the beach mistral was solved by setting up right next to a beach hut that shielded me whilst painting. Interestingly the strong breeze gave such a clear scene that I feel I caught the purest light I have ever witnessed.

A tour of Villefranche, St Tropez and Cassis followed. A dazzling array of contrasts, colour, heat and language. Then some down time on the Scottish Isles painting on Mull and Iona with that therapeutic air and all-pervasive calm.
It was at this point that the intense experience of ‘being there’ revealed to me that painting has its own momentum and nothing gets in its way. Ideas ripen on the vine and need to be harvested … so an autumn trip painting in Normandy rounded off one of the busiest years I have had!

The fruits of this odyssey are presented here in context alongside my studio still life which vitally draws on all my travels.


Peter Graham ROI
Peter Graham has earned a reputation as one of Britain’s most gifted and distinctive Modern Colourists. His work is often related to the Modern Scottish School but Peter has a flamboyant style which is unique- detailed brushwork combined with loose fluid strokes creating vibrant contrasts of pure colour, line and tone. He attended Glasgow School of Art between 1976 and 1980, following which he pursued a successful career in the media. Peter won a major British Council Award in 1990 as the first UK painter to become Artist in Residence at the Nan Yang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore. From 1994 – 96 he served on the Scottish Arts Council as Advisor for the Visual Arts. This was followed by a series of prominent exhibitions in London, Scotland and New York.
 
Peter was elected Member of The Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 2001 and has won a number of National Awards. He has served on the ROI Council including a period as Vice President. His paintings are held in public and private collections around the world including The British Council and The Western Baths Club, Glasgow.