Just watched this being talked about on the Antiques Roadshow. ‘Oh this is an oil painting from many years ago painted by a rather odd painter from the west-country called Al Brown. Perhaps 1977ish in what is known to be his rather manic blue phase. I know we shouldn’t but let’s talk price, you say you purchase this for £2.50 at an auction in Exeter? Well you’ll be pleased you to know that you‘ve got a rather good return for your investment. It’s actually worth now, and we’re talking today’s prices, a breathtaking £2.55!’ The BBC camera pans away as the audience gasps!
On a more serious note I painted this oil in my mid teens and it’s resided in an old room. I discovered it today and took this picture. Well I quite like this and perhaps I’ve not really travelled on much! But who knows….Al
A painting of a wave made in the beautiful weather we’re having at the moment. I decided to produce a timed study to try and loosen up my work. Hassled by horseflies and heat I came up with a partially successful composition. Sadly I decided to make a few adjustments a few days later and managed to lose the spontaneity and freshness. It was discarded, the canvas broken and thrown away. You win some you lose some and you learn! It’s all part of the stressful and creative process that people don’t consider when they purchase your work. Al
A Sunday spent on Woolacombe Beach and as the sky changed colour the humidity seemed to rise and there became a closeness. As the sky became dark the sunlight shone through the waves and illuminated them from within. Taken on my pocket camera and later finished in the studio. Acrylic on watercolour paper 470 x 620mm.
Leaving Tavistock. When you leave Tavy and head back towards North Devon you approach a stretch of road with chimneys of old tin mines in a valley to your right. On a trip back from a weekend in Plymouth I glanced into my car mirror and glimpsed this view. I quickly pulled into a layby and with just a biro sketched this image and made a few colour notes on a scrap of paper. This pure watercolour was painted in July 2003, fifteen years ago, and still remains one of my own favourite picture for which I’m immensely proud. It is still in my own collection. Al
With the new ecological worries of plastic in our oceans where will the likes of these wonderful species be in another few years? Watercolour & bodycolour. A painting from way back when. Al
An acrylic on panel 610 x610mm of a sunny day on Woolacombe Beach with a stormy sky. Painted from a photograph taken last Sunday.
Just another large 100 x 100cm canvas with oils. This time on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival. I don’t think that oils are quite my forte so I will probably return to acrylics. Oddly enough the previous Red Pyramid, and this Blue Pyramid are of the same band on different festivals 2011 & 2016. Al
The Pyramid oil on canvas 100 x 100cm. Not really meant to be an exact photographic style image rather than an impression of what it is like to be in front of the Glastonbury Stage when its in full flow. I work at the festival every year as a recycler and am now a veteran. Al
Al Brown Artist. 