Christopher Neville Wood (born Suffolk UK1952) ARTIST PAINTER PRINTMAKER ILLUSTRATOR SCULPTOR DESIGNER. highly skilled, versatile, Artist and Lecturer, Chris Wood is based on the South Coast / East Anglia, UK .
CORE THEMES include PLACE, NARRATIVE, WEATHER and LIGHT.
Education : From the age of 16 Chris Wood studied fine art, followed by graphic design at The Ipswich Art School, after which he completed a post graduate year, honing his Illustration skills at UAL Wimbledon College of Art, London.
His research focussed on 20th century editorial illustration.
This was followed PGCE Cert Ed at University of Portsmouth.
Life and Career : Previously, he has worked in advertising, retail, publishing and education.
Chris Wood taught art for nearly 30 years and was an academic leader in Further and Higher Education institutions.
Observational drawing is the cornerstone of his practice and he draws every day.
He regularly exhibits in the UK and has work in many private collections across the world.
ARTWORK is often informed by a lifelong obsession with the sea: how it moves, its power and ever-changing forms, the weather, the light, the colours, shapes and textures are all his “stock in trade”.
STUDIO He primarily works from his ArtSpace Portsmouth studio – part of a converted Chapel in the heart of the City.
In addition, during the Covid lockdown, he designed and built a workshop/garden studio and this is where he spends many happy hours !
OILS : larger studio paintings in oils are informed by tireless experimentation both with composition and media.
SAILING : A keen yachtsman, Chris owns a classic wooden yacht, which, over the years, he has painstakingly restored. This serves as a floating studio, mancave & bird / weather watching hideaway..
MEMBERSHIP : Art Space Portsmouth, the Ipswich Art Society and Portsmouth Urban Sketchers’,
MEDIA: What follows are revisited Q&A’S from an interview with BLINK magazine
1. Why do you make art ?
I AM A STORY TELLER – what others’ do in words, I prefer to do in pictures !
2. What inspires you to make art ?
The environment, the SEA : how it moves, it’s power, shapes and ever changing forms, the WEATHER, the LIGHT, the colours, shapes and textures of the clouds, history, ships, yachting, the PEOPLE I meet, the books I read, personal memories, objects, tools and ephemera.
3. What does your work signify or represent ?
As an illustrator communication is key – I create work that doesn’t require specialist skills to decipher. However, my more abstract pieces often have the same roots as the representational work – it could also be said that I communicate on different levels – so the longer you read my pieces the more insights you will gain.
Recent themes are centred around PLACE, NARRATIVE, WEATHER & LIGHT – my work is possibly becoming a little autobiographical and as I get older, perhaps a little nostalgic – but never sentimental !
4. What is unique about your work ?
I am a highly skilled artist and draughtsman, pulling together numerous threads of experience. My work is traditional but often with a contemporary twist
5. How do you make your work ?
Process is fundamental to my work. My paintings are often the result of hundreds of hours of research, notes, conversations, drawings and colour studies. I make plein air studies, field trips, take photographs, I garner information from libraries and the internet.
When I’m not out sketching or plein air painting , in the studio, I work in OILS – I went through a love hate relationship with oils, going over to the dark side and working in acrylics for many years, then using odourless water based oils but I have returned to traditional oils and loving every minute. I enjoy the craft skills of preparing a canvas and to me it’s a very important part of the process. I work primarily from my ArtSpace studio in Portsmouth but during the Covid lockdowns I built a garden studio, which also serves as a workshop – with garden forks jostling for space, amongst easels, sail bags and hand saws !
6. What does it mean to you ?
Places can be particularly important to artists – my special place is SUFFOLK, where I was born and spent my first 21 years. East Anglia ; its landscape, wild coastline, harbours packed with classic boats, its unique architecture, museums and Anglo Saxon heritage will always be a source of inspiration.
I have begun a series of paintings and prints exploring combinations of still life objects and familiar or remembered landscapes. In particular things that have a resonance with me – the North Sea and its impact upon both land and people. In conclusion this new string of inquiry reinforces my desire to tell a story – who I am, where I come from.
7. What are you currently working on ?
For the past few years I have owned a small classic yacht, which I have been restoring to her former glory. She was first launched in 1938 in Woodbridge in Suffolk, my spiritual home and where I learned to sail. I am currently putting together a body of work reflecting the restoration process and the boats colourful history – her First Lady owner was said to have sailed single handed around Britain in her. In addition, I am continuing to work on my series of limited edition linocuts of Portsmouth Public Houses. I have been fascinated with Architecture since I was a child and in another life I would have been an architect. However, I enjoy exploring old buildings and making artwork inspired by them. Hampshire has a wealth of characterful buildings and who knows, later I may turn my attention back to the streets of London, where I spent the formative years of my career as an artist and illustrator. I try to draw from direct observation every day and go out in all weathers painting plen air, balancing a sketchbook on my knees and drawing first using a 4B pencil and then using watercolour in an expressive and lively manner that contrasts with my tight, more academic drawing style.
8. How does your teaching affect your art practice ?
I have been an academic leader and taught in Further and Higher Education for almost 30 years and throughout that time I maintained my practise as a working artist. Teaching keeps you “grounded” and causes you to reflect upon your actions and your interactions with others’. Working as an artist can be a very insular existence, whereas, teaching art helps you focus on what you want to say and do in your own practice. As an illustrator you produce a visual solutions for someone else, whereas, fine artists need to think more for themselves, producing outcomes for self directed themes. So to conclude, I enjoy the freedom to explore new and exciting avenues. Since my early college days I have been interested in the human figure and it’s not surprising that I ended up, first of all, teaching figurative sculpture, followed by life drawing, which I’ve done independently for nearly 30 years. It’s taken me that long to hone both my teaching of drawing and my own practice ! I owe a debt of gratitude to my Ipswich Art School tutor, Colin Moss, who painted everyday people and often on a monumental scale – he ignited my passion for capturing the figure in motion.
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