Richard Gray

I am a semi figurative landscape painter living in North Yorkshire. Originally from Sheffield, I moved to Ripon to study Fine Art in the late 80’s, and apart from a year in London to attend Goldsmith’s college (University of London), I have stayed in North Yorkshire ever since.

I love the wide open spaces in the Vale of York, and the easy access to both the spectacular Yorkshire coast, and the Moors and Dales. Visiting these areas as regularly as time permits, they feature heavily in my work. These days I work from memory after these visits, and am inspired by the transitions of light, weather and the seasons. I don’t usually know where each painting is going to be about when I start. I try to respond to the image as the painting progresses. I work predominantly in oils, pushing the paint around, scratching into it, and building up layers and glazes. Stepping back regularly, and thinking about what is happening on the canvas, I find that each piece tends to take on a life of its own, and usually becomes redolent of a place recently visited.

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Richard has long been concerned with the effects of light. Living and working under the big skies of the Vale of York, he is inspired by how the light changes and how it plays out across the land. He strives for a sense of stillness, reflection and contemplation about the land and about self. The destinations that his paintings arrive at are often different to where he intended them to be.

 

Richard loves the physically of paint; pushing, scraping brushing and lifting, and he believes that his paintings often reveal his inner life, regardless of subject matter.

Richard Gray is a full time Art Teacher. In the last 16 years he has exhibited in both group and solo shows throughout North Yorkshire.