My Art and Life

 

These works are for the most part 14" X 18.5", drawn in artist's markers on white paper, but fully coloured in.  They basically represent scenes and figures drawn from the imagination rather in the style of children's book illustration.  They have been described as childlike and joyful, and show the pleasure I take in doing them.

 

I have been drawing and painting since I was a child and this is emotionally necessary to me.  I even dream about painting and take great pleasure in it.  I look forward to showing and selling my pictures as that leaves room in my house for more.  A lot of the time I don't even know what I'm going to draw but just let my hand move freely over the paper.  However, the result is a coherent, recognizable design.  I draw as if in a lucid dream.  Welcome to my dream world.

 

I was born just outside London, England, on June 8 1933, but brought up in Birmingham where I paid regular visits to the municipal Art Gallery and Museum with my brothers and sisters, two of whom have become professional artists.  One of them, Malcolm Bucknall, is quite well known.  He was pleased when I came back to art after a career in university teaching, most recently teaching French at Brock University in the Niagara region of Ontario, Canada.  Malcolm says that I draw like Marc Chagall, Odilon Redon, and William Blake.  I only started showing my work quite recently.  In the last couple of years, I have had a picture in the St. Catharines municipal Red Exhibition and a one-woman show at the local Kennedy Art Gallery.  My first show was at Strega Bistro here in St. Catharines, five or six years ago. 

 

When I was a child in wartime England, my teacher wrote a letter to the authorities saying I deserved to have a paintbox of my own.  My father had to show this letter to buy me one as everything was rationed.

 

I also collect other people's art, particularly that of my brother Malcolm.  When I was in Paris in 1975-1976, I acquired three pictures by Basil Ivan Rakoczi, who has since become very well known.  He was also a friend of Samuel Beckett and Robert Graves, but I didn't meet either of them.  I did however meet John Cage at the University of Illinois, and spent some time with him in the late 60s.  I liked his ideas but not his music.  He introduced me to the I Ching.

 

My recent shows include "Easter Eggs and Angels" at the Niagara Artists' Centre in January of 2015.  Subsequently, I have been invited to show at Arts Place Gallery in Port Colborne from February 21-April 12 of 2015.  The exhibition is entitled "Somewhere Between Earth and Heaven."