Painting for my uncle was like breathing… it was completely necessary.
I remember him saying that he got a bit testy if he didn’t paint for a few hours each day.
Perhaps it is not surprising then to note that within the five plus decades of his career he continued to develop his work, remaining open to discovery and inspiration as it came.
A bibliophile by nature his studio was not only his working space it also included a large reference library of art history, artists, techniques and books representing various aspects of subject matter used in his work such as horses.
You may have noticed throughout the website alongside most paintings Pete wrote descriptions. Many of these will mention him being inspired by or including aspects of an approach by an artist.
There are pockets within his catalogue that showcase the stylistic impact some phases of this discovery had on his approach.
One such pocket took hold and bloomed within a very short period between 2014-2015. During this time he was experimenting incorporating aspects of a style developed by Russian/American artist Nicolai Fechin.
The Fechin technique is far more complex in nature both in medium and approach than this synopsis can adequately convey but as a general concept for the purposes of this post I will hone it down thusly.
Beginning with an abstract, Fechin moved a piece toward realism in key areas such as face and hands masterfully developing a finished composition with a centre of focused interest broadening back out to abstract. The effect is bewitching.
Pete speaks of taking inspiration from Fechin’s work when describing several paintings done in this period.
In addition to Fechin he also mentioned to a group of painters he corresponded with during this period that he was incorporating Richard Schmid’s idea of pushing the focal while backing off the rest, adding a few strokes from John Lovett with his use of line and combining the looseness and directness of Tobor Nagy.
Finding balance between this inspiration and remaining true to himself, these paintings reflect a creative chapter in his life that I find utterly captivating.
Tree In The Green Wood, Two Back Lanes
These works done near the end of his life and after the Erb St. Gallery closed were never publicly exhibited and as such many collectors aren’t even aware of their existence.
They are in my opinion, undiscovered treasures.
I have named works done in this style Reverie a nod to the feeling they create in the viewer of being pleasantly lost in one’s thoughts… rapt in the pleasant interpretive quality of a daydream.
*Currently the Reverie piece titled Sister and brother is available for purchase.
You can available paintings here: Originals for Sale
And to see all the Reverie paintings you can click Here.