Hello.
The purpose of this site is to introduce you to my paintings.
Please browse, and I hope you enjoy.
Yes - some works may be for sale, this is a fast-changing matter.
Send your enquiry to:
BeaconsArt@yahoo.com
Thank you.
About Alastair
I began painting seriously in 2013. Before that all of my creative energy - and time - was taken up with the greasy pole of career. I suppose this makes me a 'Third Age' artist.
My training was in Edinburgh where I was fortunate to go to a school where the art staff were committed to traditional teaching which I reawakened through evening classes and short courses.
On leaving the world of large organisations, and living on the edge of the Brecon Beacons, South Wales' National park, I spent many days in the hills - decompressing.
The impact of that time stays with me and is the inspiration of my paintings: the look of the sky, the flow of the natural geology or the way the ever changing sunlight hits that day's colours in the changing seasons - these are the sensations I seek to convey.
But my art continues to evolve. You might say it's a journey.
Which explains why current work is different from some of the earlier pieces shown on this site. Practice certainly generates improvement, and confidence.
By way of reflection, I now know much more about what works and doesn't in my art, and my journey is taking me further away from slavish copying of 'reality'.
I enjoy making it. I hope you enjoy looking at it.
Clutching the canvas to stop it flying away!
A storm blew up within minutes of this - thunder and lightning, which is not nice when you have a metal easel!
I came off the hill very quickly.
It is a huge pleasure getting out and 'scouting' for the best views. This is the Sugar Loaf above Abergavenny.
My Work
If I am to succeed in capturing my own exhilaration from the landscape, I must spend time out there - but - unlike the French Riviera, our climate changes from day to day. The sun will probably not be there again tomorrow, so I have to work quickly.
This shows through in much of my work - fast brushwork, sweeping strokes.
I seek to capture the mood rather than to present you with a photographic image.
The Landscape
Is where we live, exist, where we wander, reflect and dream.
(This painting is 'Lower navigation Colliery, Alun'.)
Landscape painting. Bringing the outdoors indoors.
Exploring the outdoors, getting away from it all, is good for us..... to recharge, to see, to breathe, to wander and wonder.
BUT - there is never enough time.
So - my mission is to capture in paintings some of the feelings, the uplift, I enjoy from my own wanderings.
I strive to capture something of the great outdoors in my work, and also offer some comment on scale - huge horizons, enormous geology, fleeting changes in the light - how do these contrast with city life?
And - gazing at a landscape painting in your home might help - while you enjoy looking at it, maybe it can also be a constant reminder of our collective need to restore the balance?
This site contains a few samples of my work, I hope you enjoy browsing. Some paintings are For Sale - Enquiries welcome with no commitment. email beaconsart@yahoo.com.
My Art
I have produced and sold (a lot) of watercolours particularly of scenes around the Brecon Beacons, but I use that medium to explore composition ideas for my larger oil paintings - and to sustain my inspiration from the natural world.
My work has been shown in:
Waterloo Gardens exhibition space, Roath, Cardiff
The Gate, Roath, Cardiff
Pierhead Building, Cardiff Bay
Crickhowell Open Studios
Ardent gallery, Brecon
Queen Street gallery, Neath
Welsh Government Senedd building (see photo)
and has sold to clients in South Africa, Florida, California, Germany, Scotland and across South Wales of course.
"Home Alone 2021"
Winner of the National Galleries for Scotland online sketch competition, January 2022.
Oil in canvas, 400 mm x 300.
Art as an Investment
I have been selling my work now for a number of years and have enjoyed the dialogue this brings with buyers.
It is a fact that most of those will have paid more for their sofa than they will for the painting that hangs above it, but I have to acknowledge that the sofa comes closer to the 'essential' category than my painting ever will.
It is also a fact that the painting should outlive the sofa, and there is the possibility that at the time the sofa needs to be replaced, the painting could be worth more than was originally paid for it.
This possibility is clearly in the interests of the artist as much as it is for the buyer, but I cannot make any promises about future value except the assurance that I intend to maintain my efforts.
In the meantime, my advice is always choose a painting that you enjoy looking at. If it does increase in resale value, that is a bonus. Its' true value is your enjoyment of it while it hangs on your wall.
