This week, for the Friday Files, I welcome David Glyn Davies, artist, photographer, restorer of antiques and jewellery. After showing me his amazing vinyl record collection and rare releases, we looked at a number of commissioned works in progress and I had a sneak peak at the images he has prepared for the upcoming Peninsula Studio Trail Exhibition.
We moved into the main part of his light filled house and chatted over a cup of tea, where he told me a captivating story about his studies, his travels, the people he has met and the hard grind, but incredibly romantic adventure that has been his creative career.
An artist with a broad range of creative skills, David has dedicated his life to creativity in many forms starting in the UK, where he is originally from. Whilst, he studied for a degree in fine art, David immigrated to Australia as a stone mason – artists not being on the “wanted” list for immigration at the time! A rare skill, stone masonry, and one it turns out, that is highly valued and much in demand, especially for restoration work. Hard on the hands and back, but one of the slow arts, a journeyman’s craft, in fact.
He moved fluidly from stone masonry to lead light and stained glass. Creating new and restoring many of the old windows in churches around Victoria, including Saint Patricks Cathedral, Melbourne. If you look at David’s artwork today, you can actually see the influence of architectural elements, structure, proportion, balance and harmony, all of which is used in stained glass work, lead light and stone masonry.
Having moved a few years ago from Melbourne to Mount Martha, David’s creativity is now divided between antique and vintage restorations, painting, digital art and photography.
His studio looks out to a wild and poetic cottage garden, captured in the images he paints. With the trailing, swirls of leaves, dense foliage and delicate flowers, David weaves his painter’s magic over the canvas, often including faces and flowing draperies of women who appear like fairies or mythical wood nymphs. He uses glazing layers, which are thin layers of transparent paint, to create a sense of depth and dimension with colour and light that shine through like the light through stained glass windows.
Photography and digital art also feature strongly in David's work, where the strong sensuous curves and bold use of shape and form draw the viewer into the imagery, keeping your eye moving across the page. David produces limited edition series of Giclee prints on fine art paper from this digital work. The Lunar series, central image below, is one of these.
We talked about poetry and the strong influence this has on David’s work. Poetry, literature and music shape the way he processes his creative ideas and form the language of his imagery, his colours, brushwork and composition. William Blake, the artist and poet, is a particular favourite. And, although David is influenced by people he respects and admires, like we all are as artists, he has always followed his own path. His diverse career is testament to this.
David will have 6 pieces on display in the PST Exhibition.
In November he is off to France as an Artist in Residence with Chateau Orquevaux.
Contact details for David are as follows:
Website: www.davidglyndaviesartist.com
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/david.glyn.davies
Some images of Davids work are included below.
