{"id":11,"date":"2020-12-18T17:14:02","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T17:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/paulvdh\/?page_id=11"},"modified":"2026-01-22T18:06:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T18:06:53","slug":"11-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/paulvdh\/","title":{"rendered":"About the Artist"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/paulvdh\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Self_portrait.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/paulvdh\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Self_portrait.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/paulvdh\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Self_portrait-100x150.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/h4>\n<h4>Paul passed away on July 1st 2024.<\/h4>\n<h4>This website will remain for the time being as a memorial to his talents, skills and love of art.<\/h4>\n<h4>______________________________________<\/h4>\n<p>I am a painter, photographer, a writer and a teacher. I came to art late, gaining qualifications in fine art and modern European thought after a career in engineering, local government and the financial sector, finally, as the IT and Operations Director of an international insurance group.<\/p>\n<p>I create both representational and abstract paintings. My main concern is to use the painting process to transform a subject or theme into a painting that emphasises relationships between areas of colour, line and technique. It is this process of experimentation and discovery that I find exhilarating. A drawing or photograph is the starting point and the painting&#8217;s final form is uncertain.<\/p>\n<p>In my photography I use the same approach; my main concern is to produce images that emphasise shapes and colours. I am particularly interested in mountain landscapes and peoples&#8217; behaviour.<\/p>\n<p>I take inspiration from Henri Matisse whose experimentation using colour, line and abstraction I find amazing. I am also influenced by Richard Diebenkorn, an American abstract painter who was influenced by Matisse and who painted in a vigorous and imaginative figurative style as well. Whenever I am not sure what I want to do I turn to their work to refresh my ideas.<\/p>\n<p>My work has alternated bewteen painting, photography, and teaching art, art history and photography. I exhibit from time to time and have taken commissions for landscape paintings and commercial photography.<\/p>\n<p>If you would like to purchase any of my works, please email me using the CONTACT link at the top of the page.<\/p>\n<h4>EXHIBITIONS<\/h4>\n<p><strong>2008<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/paulvdh\/the-3-hares-gallery-exhibiton-2008\/\"><strong>Alps, Snow and Cloud from a Distance<\/strong><\/a>, The 3 Hares Gallery, The Cowper and Newton Museum Olney, Buckinghamshire<\/p>\n<p><strong>2006<\/strong><br \/>\nMilton Keynes Hospital, MK Art for Health<\/p>\n<p><strong>2006<\/strong><br \/>\ninto abstraction, Artworks MK, Milton Keynes<\/p>\n<p><strong>2002<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Milton Keynes Music and Arts Festival<\/li>\n<li>Journeys, 2nd International Artists Symposium, Westbury Gallery, Milton Keynes<\/li>\n<li>Start, Westbury Gallery<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>2001<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Silbury Group of Artists &#8211; 10th Anniversary Exhibition, Milton Keynes Gallery<\/li>\n<li>Big Drawers, Westbury Gallery<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>COLLECTIONS<\/h4>\n<p>My work is in private and company collections in Britain and private collections in France, Switzerland and the USA.<\/p>\n<h4>EDUCATION<\/h4>\n<p>BA (Hons), Fine Art (Coventry), 1998<br \/>\nMA, Social and Political Thought (Warwick), 1999<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paul passed away on July 1st 2024. This website will remain for the time being as a memorial to his talents, skills and love of art. ______________________________________ I am a painter, photographer, a writer and a teacher. I came to &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/paulvdh\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">About the Artist<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/paulvdh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/paulvdh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/paulvdh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/paulvdh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/paulvdh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/paulvdh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":389,"href":"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/paulvdh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11\/revisions\/389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/paulvdh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}