Born in Cheshire in 1948, I developed a love of landscape and an interest in drawing and painting from an early age. I was influenced greatly by my father Morgan Hewinson who was an artist and lecturer at Manchester College of Art. He encouraged my enthusiasm for visual art. One time, when I wanted to do silk screen printing, he converted my mum’s tea trolley into a press! Sometimes we went out sketching in the countryside or at slum-clearance and bomb sites in Stockport and Manchester. I'm still fascinated by tangled vegetation, broken fences, and dilapidated buildings, and my work sometimes invites the viewer to see beauty in unexpected subjects. While at school I got a great deal out of attending the Saturday morning classes for sixth-form students at Manchester College of Art, and went on to take a place on the Foundation course in Leicester and then to obtain a BA Hons degree in Art and Design at Maidstone College of Art.
After spending two years working and travelling in North Africa, the Middle East and India, I moved to Huddersfield in 1974. After raising a family I started painting in earnest again in the eighties. I work in a variety of media – mostly watercolours and oils – and would describe myself as a tonal and figurative painter. Watercolour appeals to me because of its immediacy of use and the luminosity of its colours. With oils I often paint en plein air, completing a work in one session or creating a piece which I then finish in the studio. I paint subjects in West Yorkshire and in other parts of the UK or abroad. I'm particularly interested in the effects of light in the landscape and carry a camera everywhere, using photography both as a means of recording and to experiment with composition. Having been an Adult Education teacher of drawing and painting, I now go out to paint regularly with a local group made up largely of my ex-students.
I'm an elected member of two professional bodies: Manchester Academy of Fine Arts (MAFA) and Leeds Fine Artists (LFA). My work has been exhibited widely in solo and joint shows, and many of my pieces are held in public and private collections in the UK, France, Sweden and Spain.
After spending two years working and travelling in North Africa, the Middle East and India, I moved to Huddersfield in 1974. After raising a family I started painting in earnest again in the eighties. I work in a variety of media – mostly watercolours and oils – and would describe myself as a tonal and figurative painter. Watercolour appeals to me because of its immediacy of use and the luminosity of its colours. With oils I often paint en plein air, completing a work in one session or creating a piece which I then finish in the studio. I paint subjects in West Yorkshire and in other parts of the UK or abroad. I'm particularly interested in the effects of light in the landscape and carry a camera everywhere, using photography both as a means of recording and to experiment with composition. Having been an Adult Education teacher of drawing and painting, I now go out to paint regularly with a local group made up largely of my ex-students.
I'm an elected member of two professional bodies: Manchester Academy of Fine Arts (MAFA) and Leeds Fine Artists (LFA). My work has been exhibited widely in solo and joint shows, and many of my pieces are held in public and private collections in the UK, France, Sweden and Spain.
