ArtistNeil Dawson
Title:NYC Dreaming
Medium:Giclee on Board
Edition:Artist Signed and Numbered Limited Edition to 150
Image Dimensions:19.25” X 39”
About the Artist:HISTORY & BACKGROUND

As with many people, I had always loved art as a child and while growing up at school. I continued my formal artistic education at Central Saint Martins College in London and continue to learn on a daily basis in the studio. The Foundation Course was a very interesting and enjoyable year even though I struggled with some aspects of the course and, at the time, it put me off pursuing a career in art. I had enjoyed the freedom, spontaneity and escapism of painting and the way I could lose myself in the creative process. I did not know how to talk about my work and to an extent I did not want to - I would rather people make their own mind up and take what they want from my work rather than me telling them what they should be thinking and seeing. Discussing, dissecting and, to an extent, justifying what I was doing just seem alien and troubling to me.

After the spell at art college I went on do a degree in economics and a job in banking and I didn t pick up a paint brush for many years.

It was an extended period of travel that rekindled my loved of art. Being constantly exposed to beautiful, enchanting, strange, evocative, provocative, bewildering environments with the time and mindset to properly appreciate and reflect on them was a defining experience. Whilst travelling, my camera was my artistic outlet as I tried to capture elements of my new, exciting surroundings. As I got home I dusted off the palette and paints in an attempt to recapture some of the sights and feelings from my time abroad. I quickly realised how much I had missed creating art and have not looked back since. It has not always been plain sailing since, but I will never regret giving art another chance, regardless of what the future may hold.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF

One of the great advantages of being an artist and working for yourself is the freedom it allows you to set your own timetable and work to your own rhythms. I love not having an alarm clock telling me when to get up and rarely wear a watch, instead responding to when body and mind are ready for the day ahead. After getting up and getting ready I will normally spend a while looking over my canvases (I will normally be working on anything up to about 10 at any one time), mentally preparing myself and formulating a course of action for the day. It rarely goes exactly to plan, painting can be very mercurial, but I like to have some goals and an idea about where I will be heading. I will then turn the radio on for some background music and settle into the day s work. Lunch is normally a quick and simple affair, as by then I am normally totally involved in what I am doing, too excited by the possibilities ahead to be distracted too long.

I will normally start to clear up about 6ish, again listening to the body and mind which are normally slowing by then and tiring from the extended effort and concentration I have put in during the day. I will then have a short review period, often making notes on things that I have liked or disliked and thoughts about what should be done next. Then it is time to turn the paintings over so I can t see them and try and switch off and away from my own personal little world, either losing myself in a book or, more often than not, relaxing in front of the TV. The inertia does not normally last long as something will capture my imagination and set the brain racing with possibilities and potential ideas. I think if you are an artist you are an artist 24/7. You never step out of the office as it were - it affects the way you see and react to the world about you. I tend to get up thinking about art and go to bed with the same thoughts.