KEITH DIXON
His interest in nature, particulaly waterways (he grew up on Englands N.E.coast) and in people (my job entailed the study of facial expression ) inspired him to go outside and study the effects of light on water and also to intensify his love of portraiture.
KEITH DIXON
To this end, he sought out established painters and was lucky to receive personal tuition in Life Drawing (Rachel Clark, London) Portraiture (Andy James, Tunbridge Wells) traditional Landscape Painting (Martin Kinnear-Norfolk School of Oil Painting) and valuable coaching in the use acrylic paints by the late Mitch Waite (Nice). In addition, he spent a delightful July in 2014 at the Lavender Hill Studios in London, gaining insight into the atelier approach to portraiture.
Anything can inspire him to paint, though the subject will determine whether he employes oil paints, acrylics, oil- or soft-pastels, the latter being every bit as good as oils for rendering atmosphere in a picture.
In 1982 he began to pursue part-time studies at the Schule für Gestaltung in Bern. Over the next twenty years, he studied life drawing with Fausto Sergei Sommer, portraiture with Arthur Freuler and water colours with Paul Rinicker. During this time he took part in 6 group exhibitions “Neuenegg-Heute” at his local village and in 1995 exhibited his first etchings at Zollikofen together with his teacher the graphiker Roger Briner. He discovered outdoor painting and two successful solo-exhibitions of plein air works (2010. Hotel, Gypsera, Schwarzsee, Fribourg) and 2012 (“Travelling Light”, Gallerie “Altes Schulhaus”, Herrenschwanden) were well received with healthy sales.
Watercolours too find use when he is making outdoor colour notes or sketches, as do colour pencils. A new found love for Cornwall and its coastline has influenced his recent work, possibly inspired by his early roots in the UK.
