David Prentice is now in his mid 70's, and over the last two years the Worcestershire artist has been working with great energy on a remarkable new body of work. Prentice had heard that a professional photographer had been commissioned to take a series of shots taken over The Malvern Hills from a helicopter, and as a landscape artist always fascinated with the concept of elevation, he made sure of obtaining copies of the images.

David Prentice has for many years been walking the hills,  industriously drawing in volumes of sketch books and producing oil paintings, pastels and watercolours ranging through various interpretations from the traditional and relatively topographical, through to the powerful and semi abstract, works that have brought him great attention, success and distinction. Rarely has he used photography, even as a secondary resource, but he is always open to new perspectives, and the new paintings inspired by the aerial photography, project fresh inspiration and viewpoints with dramatic effect.

There are four groups with a large body of work.  In addition to large paintings produced from an elevated perspective, David had also found new aspects to his viewpoint as a walker in the hills, and as an observer of other walkers in the landscape; this has given rise to a group of smaller oils. As well as these, the artist has also been out and about in the lanes of Worcestershire and Herefordshire and come up with a remarkable fresh series of large scale watercolours that are outstanding examples of their genre.

All of these works fall within the title The Green Fuse, words extracted from the title of the Dylan Thomas poem  The Force That Through The Green Fuse Drives The Flower, verses that explore the path of an artist's creativity. The poet Roy Fisher has written an incisive appreciation of the new body of work for the catalogue in relationship to the title.

As well as the Green Fuse paintings, David Prentice has also found time to create an appreciable number of highly atmospheric, powerful and authoritative new paintings featuring the City of London. Approximately 60 paintnings will be on show and for sale.

David Prentice & watercolour

David Prentice has become well known for his magnificent watercolours depicting the Malvern Hills, and this is a good time and place to mention that David has won the prestigious Sunday Times Watercolour Competition (at the time sponsored by Singer & Freidlander) outright, as well as being runner up on a number of occasions.

As many know, Britain has a highly celebrated tradition in the use of watercolour dating back to the late 18th Century, with 19th Century practitioners including such artists as Turner, Girtin, Cotman and Cox. Classic use of medium is dependent upon transparency, allowing in varying degree the lightness of the paper to generate luminosity. Expansive works require large, controlled washes and a lot of daring to succeed, and while David does employ opaque media in some of these paintings, his use of pure watercolour is outstanding. In addition, his boldness of composition is truly remarkable; in most cases illustrated here he confronts trees full on, creating a frieze through which the landscape is viewed, and to which the lanes invite us.

This group of watercolours are both classic and modern, as well as being top examples of their genre.

CATALOGUES AVAILABLE ON REQUEST - Green Fuse Catalogue = £12; City of London  Catalogue = £10; Both = £20

John Davies

April 2010