FEATURED ARTIST OF THE MONTH : PAUL ASKEW

  “Girl in the window”

.  “Tell us more about your black and white paintings and the benefits of working in black and white?“

Most of my life has been spent in Ophthalmic optics [Supply of prescription glasses] Although I have been painting for over 30 years, full time after the optical practice closed.

   The study of optics with regard individuals taught me how the eye perceives images. Although we see objects with two eyes in stereo, most of our perception of what we see is done using monocular clues. We don’t need a stereo image to perceive distance, which is why we can understand depth in a painting which is actually flat! I use what I learnt in optics in my paintings.

   I only paint in Black and White Acrylics, partly because of the speed with which the medium dries, but mostly because  i love the monochrome image. Some of the finest images ever taken were in black and white and even today, despite the all pervading colour digital image the monochrome image is still important and popular.

  I believe that the black and white image offers a different way of looking at any subject, using contrast and composition without the distraction of colour. I love the idea that as black and white photographs progressed into colour photographs, so colour paintings can progress into black and white paintings!

   For subject matter I look to ordinary people in everyday life. Every person in my paintings is real and their look, actions and posture as individuals is important to me. They pass by me and are in my life for a fraction of a minute and then are gone. I will never know who they are or where they come from, but their existence in my paintings is important to me.

“Paris People 2”

“Can you tell us more about your series ‘Paris People’? How did this series develop and how did you choose your subjects? “

  The Paris People  series were taken from two photographs I took whilst wondering randomly around Paris. They are each ordinary individuals who would not normally gather a second glance from you as they passed you by. But as individuals they are worth drawing your attention to before they go on their way. And it is that moment that I am trying to draw show you before they proceed on their way and vanish.

“Asleep in the Park”

   “Asleep in the Park’ is painted from an unusual perspective. Tell us more about this work and how you develop ideas for your paintings?“

The Asleep in the Park painting was from a photograph that I took in London. I loved the sleeper’s calm and the juxtapose position of him on the park bench and the two different types of trees on the horizon and the possibility of rain in the clouds beyond.

  I only work from my own photographs which I have taken over too many years and throughout Europe, and from my family album which goes back some  one hundred years. I also paint portrates and town and landscapes, hopefully containing people, but not always. I only work on prepared and masked 4mm mdf, although some of my earlier work was on Sandella and 9mm mdf.