All about the artist
Chris Bourne
Hello, I’m Chris Bourne.
I wish my paintings to connect with you through emotions, feelings, memories of a place or time and to lift your spirits.
Here I briefly explain how I go about achieving this aim.
I was born and raised in the Oxfordshire countryside.
After gaining a degree from Berkshire College of Art, I then went on to work as an Art Director in a London advertising agency for over a decade.
Longing to return to the countryside, I moved to Dorking, Surrey, where I decided to become a professional artist and spent many hours rambling through the woods, sketchbook in hand.
My work is represented by many galleries across the U.K.
And then, after many, many childhood holidays and many, many years of wishing, my dream came true and I’m now actually living in St. Ives.
I’m a painter inspired by the landscape. So that’s exactly what I paint.
My aim is to encapsulate the elements, feelings, memories.
Our surroundings are forever changing… the light, weather conditions, leaves grow and they fall, the sea goes in and out, the world is always in a state of flux, so I’m just trying to grasp that experience.
It’s just a fleeting moment….and then it’s gone.
The world moves on but the memory remains.
I have a store of memories on pieces of paper and canvas…you probably have family holiday photos in a box somewhere.
Painting is a response to being on this planet and looking and reacting to all this. You can feel it even if you can’t see it and there are things you can see only when you slow down.
I’m just hoping the artworks I’ve created inspire you to be happy with what you see and think it’s truly me.
I’m now in Cornwall, so anywhere around where I live. I’m not a great one for driving so I think I’ll stick around here for now.
There are certainly worse places in the world to be with its great open stretches of sandy beaches and intimate woodland and abundance of wildflowers.
Tomorrow the light will be completely different and I will be feeling completely different so a contrasting painting is born…it’s all part of being human on this planet.
Well, most days I have a sketch book and pencils, but quite often I draw on loose pieces of paper that find their way into a stack.
This has no order and isn’t referred to that often, but the process of doing the initial mark making is enough for me. If you think too long about something sometimes it’s too much, best just to make a note of the place and sentiments, then move on.
If you look back on it later and there’s some mental impression about the piece it’s probably worth exploring again.
I’ve always enjoyed creating and I decided to do more of what made me happy.
I get to go out into the woods and along the cliffs and beaches…why wouldn’t you?
People like my work and that gives me great satisfaction…perhaps it’s a painting that slows you down after a busy day of doing and helps you relax and reminisce.
Armed with my now slightly paint covered bag, I set forth into the world, working with acrylic, ink, oil, pencil…anything to capture the feeling on canvas, board or paper.
I haven’t got an agenda in mind, the piece just comes along at its own pace.
For all my years of painting my inspiration is the outdoors, I’m not one for long periods of time inside.
The larger pieces are on canvas or board and begun outside, then taken into my studio to be worked on.
