Featured work by Neil Dawson

As with many people, I had always loved art as a child and while growing up at school. I continued my formal artistic education at Central Saint Martins College in London and continue to learn on a daily basis in the studio. The Foundation Course was a very interesting and enjoyable year even though I struggled with some aspects of the course and, at the time, it put me off pursuing a career in art. I had enjoyed the freedom, spontaneity and escapism of painting and the way I could lose myself in the creative process. I did not know how to talk about my work and to an extent I did not want to - I would rather people make their own mind up and take what they want from my work rather than me telling them what they should be thinking and seeing. Discussing, dissecting and, to an extent, justifying what I was doing just seem alien and troubling to me.

After the spell at art college I went on do a degree in economics and a job in banking and I didn’t pick up a paint brush for many years.

It was an extended period of travel that rekindled my loved of art. Being constantly exposed to beautiful, enchanting, strange, evocative, provocative, bewildering environments with the time and mindset to properly appreciate and reflect on them was a defining experience. Whilst travelling, my camera was my artistic outlet as I tried to capture elements of my new, exciting surroundings. As I got home I dusted off the palette and paints in an attempt to recapture some of the sights and feelings from my time abroad. I quickly realised how much I had missed creating art and have not looked back since. It has not always been plain sailing since, but I will never regret giving art another chance, regardless of what the future may hold.