Nev's Story

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Born and raised in a mining family in Nottinghamshire, Nev held a number of positions before obtaining his B Ed (Hons) in Art and training as a teacher.   He taught Art in a variety of schools before moving to Scotland to work with children with Social, Emotional or Behavioural needs initially as class teacher before being appointed Headteacher of an Additional Support Needs School in Fife, where he and I first met and went on to spend over 20 years together, marrying in 2022.

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As a result of a long term illness Nev took early retirement from his post in 2000.  He returned  to painting, initially to aid his recuperation, building up gradually  from just a few minutes a day to two to three hours every day.  Latterly, while his health permitted, he split his time between tending to our garden and painting from his studio (a big wooden shed!) in the garden of our home near Kelso in the beautiful Scottish Borders.

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​Nev's Paintings

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Working solely in oil on canvas, Nev's paintings range from more naturalistic depictions of the world in which we live to what he called his "paintings of the mind" which enabled him to explore human nature with all its strengths and frailties but with an overwhelming theme of hope and resilience,  in particular in the ethereal images portrayed in Grace and Rising (aka Fragile Rising but Nev renamed as we wanted to remove the notion of fragility and instead celebrate the strength of the human spirit)

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When asked what he painted, Nev's simple reply was light.  He strove to portray the purest form of light through his skies and landscapes, and in particular through his depictions of water from his impressive, Water Trilogy to smaller pieces like Tide's Edge.  He loved being by the sea and spent a lot of time just looking and listening to the sound of the waves on the shore.

 

Nev's greatest inspiration came from the symbiotic relationship between light and dark, both literally and metaphorically, and how the changing quality of light alters, not just the appearance of a scene or object, but also the mood and emotions associated with it.  The absence of light was equally important to him, both visually and emotionally.

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It was his greatest hope that his paintings would resonate with the viewer,  encourage you to make your own sense of them, and to connect with them in your own way.

It may not be the same as Nev intended but for him it was every bit as valid.  We all have our unique ways of seeing and responding to the world in which we live.

 

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