Paul Coventry-Brown

During my five years at Dick Blick I had the pleasure of being around art supplies and catalogs. In fact, Blick puts out many fliers each year and one of my jobs as a Shipping Assistant was to Fed Ex boxes of catalogs and supplementals to retail stores and organizations around the country.

In one of Blick's sales ads they featured artists who used Blick materials. One of them really appealed to me, a certain Paul Coventry Brown, an Englishman living in France, who used Blick's hardboards as a painting surface. Coventry-Brown is what is known as a hyper-realist style of painter; his works are photo real. He uses ordinary items in his still lifes such as lemons, cups and the like. If I could be any type of painter, I'd want to be a realist.

I am on his mailing list so when he does a batch sometimes he lists them on Ebay. Usually they are out of my price range, but recently I spotted one of his new ones that I almost could afford. I put in a bid and fully expected to be out of the running quickly but the world must have been dozing and I was the winner.

This was the write-up:

Tangerines (oil on panel): 12 x 9 inches

The painting is unframed but I can have it framed if anyone is interested but I will need about 10 - 14 days extra.

My name is Paul Coventry-Brown and I'm from Liverpool in the UK and I am a self taught artist.
I spent 17 years working in Japan before settling down in S. W. France 7 years ago to become a full time artist. I have always been more drawn to the old masters like Vermeer, Caravaggio and Velazquez as far as my painting style goes but I love art in all it's forms.

I have had some great opportunities with commissions from Winsor & Newton (UK), Blick Art Supplies (USA) and my work being bought by galleries in Las Vegas, Connecticut, Sacramento and Newcastle (UK).

Thank you for looking.

Huh? Imagine an old Midwestern hick like me with a Coventry-Brown. I'll find a nice place on the wall for it, and tell the kids not to throw it away when I'm gone.

Comments

Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless. Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001. It was one of those things that can generate crime: two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job. Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things. Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold. But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find. His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead. He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds. He will be paralyzed for life. None of this is pleasant. Reading the f...

The Mary Davis Home - Part 2

None of these pictures were taken by me, they came right from the MDH website. I am posting these so that friends who have never seen inside where I worked can gain access. After 27 years I have many stories, tales and acquaintances. But, I wouldn't know how to express them appropriately in a few paragraphs. I enjoyed 98% of my stay there and hope I made a difference in the lives of a fraction of the kids who entered. The original MDH at this site was just the front part. The large red-roofed area in back was added on in the 90's. This is the Jerry Carlton library. It was unofficially named after one of the counselors who truly loved the place. He passed away around 2002, I think. Mr. Farber looks like he is explaining a few things to a client. The classroom. Activity area with the gym behind the windows. Another shot of the classroom. It was a little different area to teach since we had 2 classes and 2 teachers i...

Statuary In North Straub Park

The Vinoy is not the only park in town. The place is fairly littered with them, and almost all, except Bum Paradise, are pretty nice. This is North Straub and they have some old pieces in that seem to have suffered from time and perhaps human folly. These and some 30 other statues were imported from Italy by local developer C. Perry Snell to help beautify the city. Mr. Snell was in real estate and during the depression he went on a European shopping trip to collect items for the city. He obtained these from Italy and installed them in this park even after the bottom fell in the markets. He fulfilled his obligations at great personal loss to his own company and wealth. Halso continued to pay his staff during those tough times. He developed many areas in the city, Vinoy, Snell Isle, Crescent Lake and the beach area down around Fort DeSoto. He lived from 1869 until 1949 and then buried in Kentucky. I wo...

Existing In BFE

Search This Blog