Kelvin Burgoyne

Exhibition in the Gallery

26th February - 21st April 2009

“THE COLOUR OF WATERCOLOUR”

Kelvin Burgoyne b.w.s. c.i.g.a.

Member of, British Watercolour Society

Companion International Guild of Artists

Winner of the 2002 Roland Hilder Shield

The works contain several works under the heading “High Summer Storm” as well as some figurative and reflective studies.

The intention and indeed the essence of my work is to display the watercolour palette in all its glory as an antithesis to traditional methods and practices. All the work is completed entirely in Pure Artist’s Watercolour, on 300lb Arches

Kelvin Burgoyne was born in Pendle, Lancashire in 1949 and is completely self-taught. As a suspected polio victim when a small boy he spent many weeks in isolation and amused himself drawing and painting which he continued with varying degrees of intensity until 1995, when early retirement from the prison service enabled him to become professional Artist.  After an appearance on Channel 4’s Watercolour Challenge, he staged a one man show and sold 24 of 32 on exhibit. This was followed by an exhibition with the British Watercolour Society, which completely sold out within 24 hours. He enjoyed continued success with them and was elected a full member two years later.

His work has been a journey through the mediums of oil and pastel until reaching the ultimate discipline of watercolour in 1982.  For many years he had searched for the balance between English landscape and Mediterranean colour, an almost impossible arrangement, however, whilst drawing over moor-land in August 1999 on a fabulously hot summer day, he experienced a sudden blackness, stillness and a chill brought on by a heavy summer storm.   At its deepest, inexplicably, he saw the countryside bathed in vivid colour and the buildings almost white; mentally capturing the moment he has continued with this vision and works exclusively in the search for watercolour splendour.

Kelvin Burgoyne