NAPA title

Clive Metcalfe

Kent, UK

For me the essential point of painting is discovery. When my work surprises me and takes me somewhere new I am at my happiest. Mostly working on mounting board primed with roughly brushed Gesso I start with boldly laid down washes working like watercolours, but darker. These are the base on which I build, often – as little as possible – to retain freshness. Music is helpful to stimulate fast working which Acrylics suit best. Stopping, resting, and thinking are also essential. I usually draw with the brush, mainly use flat brushes, using the corner or edge for detail, with a little marking from a 'rigger'. Try a rigger skipped across a textured surface using its long flat edge, great for seas.
Clive trained at Southampton Art College and Chelsea School of Art in the early 60’s. Whilst a student in London he became heavily involved in the music scene as a founder member of the pop group ‘Pink Floyd’. He was having more success as a singer-songwriter and co-wrote a US top ten hit. The band seemed to be going nowhere and he left before they became famous – a slight error.
For fifteen years Clive worked and lectured as a designer goldsmith, exhibiting at Goldsmith’s hall and selling to the leading craft galleries in the UK and to Cartier in New York. For eight years Clive was head of Jewellery at Southampton Institute of Higher education and was seconded to Sir John Cass London to teach and to write a degree course.
From 1999 to 2006 Clive owned a successful gallery in Kent, selling his original paintings and reproductions. Now he is devoting more time to painting abroad, his work being available through a number of galleries in the UK.
Clive is a member and prize winner of the National Acrylic painters’ Association (2005). A selection of his work is held with the Bridgeman Art Library. Clive’s work includes a number of corporate commissions (latest for Dover Harbour Board). He was recently selected for inclusion in a publication by Dorling & Kindersley (Acrylic Workshop).
‘Every painting is a new voyage of discovery. I endeavour to let the painting create itself, with my help, so that I can enjoy what appears, as if I were an observer. I take risks, and I often fail, but the search for a surprise is everthing.’

clivemetcalfe@btinternet.com

www.clivemetcalfe.co.uk

Works Exhibited

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