cookthepainter.com
gary@cookthepainter.com
Instagram: cookthepainter
I am a Dorset-based environmental artist exploring our complicated and detrimental impact on nature. I paint mainly en plein air in ink, watercolour and charcoal. I aim to get 80% of the watercolour painted in situ then finish the piece in my studio. Silhouettes and names of the species dependent on the trees or surroundings I am painting in are hidden in the background of each work. I always feel a deep connection and a sense of wellbeing when under the tree canopy. Being able to combine this joy with painting is such a privilege.
My style, a fusion of naturalistic painting and narrative script, is directly influenced by my background in the newspaper industry where I was an associate editor and the senior artist for The Sunday Times for 26 years. Working for a newspaper, I often produced diagrams highlighting environmental problems. In the last decade as a painter, including an environmental message in each piece has been very important to me. Most species are in steep decline and under threat. For example, ash trees provide the habitat for 1,058 different species from bats to beetles and lichens to mammals. Virtually the whole of the UK is now hit by dieback disease through our actions. I hope that by painting the trees and dependent wildlife, that now has to adapt so quickly, others will join in action for change.