David Farrant



The Art Room at Linen Green, 26 The Linen Green, Moygashel, Dungannon, BT71 7HB Tel: 028 87752766

The Creative Day...

Where my painting is concerned I am a creature of habit, as I find a routine keeps me on track with my work. I tend to go to my studio at 9am and paint until I break for coffee mid-morning and then again for lunch. After this however, things get slightly less rigid, dependent on whether I am particularly excited about a piece. I may work through in an orderly fashion and stop for the day at 4pm, or if I'm feeling a surge of creative energy I could easily go straight through until midnight! There are of course many days when I don't make it into the studio at all, which is no bad thing - if I spent all my time shut away I would miss out on all the beautiful sights and sounds that inspire my work.

The Creative Impulse...

My primary inspiration stems from everyday scenes of human activity. I enjoy exploring the impact of light falling on moving figures and still objects, and the interplay of solid shapes and their complex shadows. I look for my subjects anywhere that groups of people congregate - bars, restaurants, beaches, streets - but am often taken by surprise by a briefly glimpsed tableau that cries out to be captured. Although I do enjoy travel for its own sake, (particularly to European cities and the Caribbean) I also use my trips abroad to seek out slightly more exotic subject matter.

Like many artists, I owe a great deal to those influential figures Velazquez, Sargent, Manet, as well as to contemporary figurative artists such as Ken Howard.

The Creative Process...

When starting work on a composition I try to hint at a story - something to intrigue the viewer the way I myself am intrigued by my subjects. In addition to these narrative overtones, I also try to work within the framework of a disciplined formal structure, as balance seems to me to be one of the key elements in a successful image. In order to recreate the setting of my subject, I rely partially on memory, but also work from sketches and, on occasion, photographs. When inspiration strikes I like to be able to paint without unnecessary delay, so my preferred medium is acrylics, as its quick drying property allows me to paint swiftly onto a dry surface.

Background...

Born in London in 1938, David Farrant has built a reputation as one of the finest painters of portraiture in the country. Following his training at Central St. Martin's, London, David embarked on an impressive career which has included exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery (where he was a finalist in the John Player Award for Portraiture1989) and at the Mall Gallery in London with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. He has also undertaken over 20 portrait commissions and has work in private collections all over the world.