Alan Denbigh

As a child I loved drawing and painting and was lucky enough to be encouraged; I remember my parents enrolling me in some classes with some much older kids when I was nine (who didn’t seem to mind!).

’Art’ kind of got kicked into touch after O-levels (GCSEs) when I realised that my future chance of earning a living was more likely to come from focussing on my science background.

From then on, I didn’t spend much time sitting down and doing ‘art for art’s sake’, but there was always an opportunity to do something which had a purpose; some element of design or sketching things out to explain something. As an engineering student I had a summer placement creating exploded-view drawings for Volvo in Sweden, where the first stage was to produce a freehand sketch before showing all the component parts (à la Cornelia Parker – arty reference!).

I drew a detailed diesel engine cross-section in my first job, collating the elements from a series of engine component drawings. Later I remember sketching out modifications to bits of kit in the coal mine where I was working and turning in freehand sketches rather than technical drawings, to the amusement of the machine shop. Later I edited a magazine where I chose and edited the pictures, did the layout and wrote most of the articles. A hobby of mine has always been personalised birthday cards often with caricatures of the birthday boy or girl, designs for cakes, posters for events and later on, ideas and layouts for interpretation panels.

In a rare burst of spontaneity, I gave up full-time working in 2018 to start watercolour classes, before having a go with lino-cut printing, pastels and most recently oils. I’ve been encouraged and inspired by both the tutors and fellow club members at the fantastic Salcombe Art Club – a superb and very welcoming resource, unique in South Devon.

My work has been mainly South Hams views, still life and portraits. I feel I’m still very influenced by a watercolour approach but appreciate the greater flexibility offered by oils and I’m looking forward to being more experimental in years to come.