The Haunted House at Westward Ho
M5 Westbound Towards Taunton
BIDEFORD BLACK
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APPLEDORE
A view leading away from the RNLI Lifeboat Station in Appledore, North Devon. The pen & ink of mine on the left drawn thirty years ago vs the same scene today!
TOWARDS SPEKE’S
Back to a little landscape of Hartland Quay walking along the coast path to Speke’s Mill on the North Devon Coast. Acrylic on 26×16” canvas.
NHS PROFESSIONALS
A series of pen and ink drawings made during the pandemic in 2020. These are nurses and ODPs (operating department practitioners) who worked with me at The North Devon District Hospital.
CROPREDY 2025
My annual trip to Fairport’s Cropredy Festival in Oxford for music, great food and beer. I have a wonderful time walking along the picturesque canals with their longboats and drinking in the two pubs, The Brasenose and The Red Lion. Both pubs have fringe music festivals and I enjoy having a few ales in the churchyard amongst the gravestones opposite The Red Lion. The picture above is of the old lock keeper’s cottage and this is where I often spend time peacefully in the sun.
During this busy visit I managed to get in some time to do some pen and ink sketches. The canal tow path with lock man’s cottage is a particular favourite of mine at Cropredy. The other sketches are of the main arena and stage at the festival with its lights and speaker systems. It was great to see the Harvest Moon in the sky during the evening performances and a special appearance by the famous Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin.
EMPIRE STATE
Whilst continuing with the portraiture theme I was looking through some old digital files to print off some client requests when I accidentally came across this image. It is of a past work colleague on her trip to New York I was struck with her wild red hair and misty Manhattan. Acrylic on 600 x 800mm canvas. Al
WINDS OF TIME
I cycle the North Devon coast regularly and passing this wind blown tree at the top of Down Lane near Woolacombe recalled an old pen and ink drawing I did years ago. Not much has changed except the gate the overgrowth and instead of grazing sheep corn is now grown; I always liked the sheep’s wool hanging off the barbed wire in the ink drawing. The trees are still almost identical this is perhaps due to the strong coastal winds keeping their growth in check.
FARAWAY LAUGHTER
I’m returning to paint and narrative with this composition of the late Syd Barrett one of the founding members of the band Pink Floyd. I’ve wanted to paint him for sometime when this image appeared on the net it was just the thing I was looking for. I think this is an image from his later life when poor mental health had taken its toll. It must have been a terrible ordeal of regret to see his original band grow and become successful!
I am now going to leave this composition to let it settle in my mind before finishing it. I’ve added some text via photoshop to play with an idea but just to add, this is not a complete painting by no means! Al
Now there’s a look in your eyes
Like black holes in the sky,
Shine on you crazy diamond.
You were caught in the crossfire of childhood and stardom
Blown on the steel breeze,
Come on you target for faraway laughter
Come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr and shine.
GLASTONBURY 2025 SKETCHBOOK
Some pen and ink doodles from this year’s Glastonbury Festival; all were drawn in Tom’s Bar and on the hallowed ground of Tom’s Field. Tom’s Field is where an old grey mare called Tom was kept and where all of us workers now eat, drink and are entertained during the festival. Quite a magical and cathartic place! Al
THREE COMBES FOOT
An acrylic painting of Three Combes Foot near Robber’s Bridge on Exmoor. I discovered a beech tree on the internet and thought it reminiscent of the famous Sycamore Gap in Northumberland. What I hadn’t realised it is actually a group of trees planted in a circle amid an ancient dry stone wall cattle enclosure. Within the shaded, inner sanctum, you experience a magical feeling of serenity, for me one of the secret highlights to be discovered on Exmoor. Al
Al Brown Artist. 