Tony Scrivener
Born in London, Tony has painted professionally since moving to Dorset in 1970. He studied at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art, and gained a first BA (hons) in 1999. He has exhibited extensively in the south-east and London - regularly at the Royal Academy Summer Show, and his paintings are widely collected.
"I try to capture the essential characteristics of a landscape, rather than a likeness; line, form and colour dominate. I love paint and the process of painting; for me the process is one of continual change - composition, colour and subject. The residue of these changes becomes the underlying marks and snatches of colour that make the painted surface interesting. It is this 'history' that is discovered over the years, as nuances, previously unnoticed.
I always start from drawings if even they are simple fine drawings, because this is the only real way of seeing. My concern is not with reproducing a likeness but in capturing the essential characteristics of my subject - still life or landscape. The space encountered with still life is confined and invaded by the objects as opposed to the limitless space of landscape but both contain a sense of human presence even if this is only suggested by absence. This is as it should be because painting is an elemental human activity. My methodology is one of constant change until the tensions in the composition are right. This process manifests itself in surface texture, residual colour and marks that give the painting its life. It is paint and the process of painting that I love"