Penny: Did you go to art college?
Stewart: I didn’t go to art college although I was in those days, an A level art student who could have gone but my interest was in marketing and my dream was to train within an ad agency. My father was a talented fine artist and I was tutored by him from an early age but he never pressured me into an artistic career. He always advised me to make progress in my 20s and 30s via a commercial career and savour the art in later years – good advice
How did your interest in cityscapes and nightscapes develop?
During my business career I traveled extensively throughout the world inevitably staying in city centre hotels and often unfortunately on my own. For years I carried an old leather-bound sketch book and would stare outside the window and observe the human activity down in the streets. It was a surreal situation being in numerous strange towns watching the nightlife which always seemed more exciting than the hotel. I captured many streets in many cities and my many sketches are all set in evening light. Even more surreal is that my studio is located in a 17th Century building in the middle of the Derbyshire countryside and I have little ambition to paint rural scenes like my father. (The city is so much more exciting )
Could you describe the process you go through in imagining, planning, and creating a painting?
A lot of my work is commissioned and for this I have to be truer to the subject so I work from client’s photos, or I take photos and sketches and discuss with the client. They are often corporate and working to a group brief so I have to gain an understanding of their expectations with great discipline.
As for my gallery work I seldom paint from life but prefer to enclose myself in my wonderful studio. When I have the freedom like this my best work arrives, listening as always to incredibly loud music and often working well into the night (with the company of a little red wine).
I have a process of a kind which normally starts from a very large file that I keep containing anything from old sketch observations, magazine cuttings or anything that inspires. I look through this all the time and usually end up dreaming constantly. It keeps me awake because I churn over the concept, angles and colours etc. At the start of the painting process my palette is decided and mixed ready and canvas placed. The concept is in my head and I play some appropriate music and stand terrified in front of the easel. I start to lay paint with my knives which has been thickened overnight (secret method) in a frenzied action and then after 10 minutes or so I calm down and work more controlled till lunch. (I always have sardines and salad plus 1 piece of bread.)
Following lunch I stare at the easel and convince myself that I have failed and dare myself to scrape it off. I eventually talk myself through the crisis and paint calmly ‘til about 6pm.
By this stage most of the canvas is filled with paint but not finished. I now know that I have about 2 days to do interesting tweaks during various stages of paint setting. (This is when the magic commences.)
At 6pm I climb out of my overalls clean up, pour red wine and sit back and observe the canvas. I still work on the canvas in a clean way sipping wine and winding down.
Although working on other paintings in various stages of completion I spend the next two days twitching and tweaking and aiming for perfection.
What are your favourite types of paints to use?
I paint only with knives and fingers and the important aspect to the paint is forming an impasto quality. I have no favourite brand but I do “doctor” it to my required consistency.
Who and what are your main inspirations?
If you look at Boulevard Montmartre at Night by Camille Pissarro it sums up my deep love for impressionism. But a more contemporary urban take on it.
I am not a pretentious painter and I love the attitude of David Hockney. With his brave northern grit he seems to mock those precious arty types.
What other jobs have you had?
Up until the age of 52 I progressed up the greasy pole of corporate life. Most of my career was spent within high-end fashion brands. I worked as a director of design and brand management for several international companies and was based in several worldwide locations.
Do you every get creative blocks, and if so, how do you deal with them?
Not very often. Painting is about observing life and I have an interesting life. I have several professional artist friends but of course they are no damned help as they usually have their own “blockages” to contend with.
What advice do you have to young artists just starting out?
It’s a shame that hundreds of young artist go through the college system and most of them end up working in a supermarket.
Making a living out of painting isn’t easy. Maybe we don’t tell them that they will have to be self employed as there are no apprenticeships or youth training schemes that I know of.
As well as being an artist they will have to be a:
Photographer
Graphic Designer
Web designer
Sales Person
Book Keeper
Secretary
Packer and Shipper
Van Driver
And the list goes on
I sincerely do feel for most of these young people who expect to make a living once leaving college but their future in pure arts is doubtful in the short term. So my advice is indeed get a job in ASDA but maybe for only 3 days a week and spend the rest of your time building up your brand and your business. Spend at least a year refining a really unique look and stick to it because this will become your USP and your Brand.
And then the fun part – get a really big folio case and cold call the galleries – character building stuff!
See more of Stewart’s colourful and energetic work at his Art2Arts page.
