Fascinating Scenes of Everyday Life

Peter Worsley, Artist

Dramatic life events can awaken in an artist a desire to chronicle them for the future, to share observations and invite commentary. For Fine Art Registry® member Peter Worsley , this awakening was experienced at a very early age.

Born in 1929, in a western suburb of London, England, Peter grew up during the Great Depression, and later, World War II. He had an early interest in documenting the heightened events of everyday life around him, carrying a notebook to record and sketch thoughts and ideas when still a small boy.

In high school in the early 1940s, he pursued his artistic inclinations, creating award-winning poster designs to promote the purchase of Savings Bond Stamps.

But the War and the country's economy offered little in the way of opportunity for him to study art. Immediately upon graduating from high school, he was drafted into the Royal Air Force and trained in radar and electronics.

Following his service, these technical abilities led to work in a large research corporation, where he was to remain for many years. In the early part of his career after the RAF, he graduated from the University of London, attending school each evening and all day on Fridays. Throughout, although appreciative that his military training and successful years in business gave him invaluable life skills, he never forgot his desire to create art.

Inspired by Location

Peter first came to California in 1956 for business, moving permanently to Santa Barbara in 1970. However, it wasn't until 1996, when he retired from 50 years in industry, that he was able to pursue his long-held dream of becoming an artist.

Being located in Santa Barbara offered him a tremendous advantage - the area has a long and prestigious history in the visual arts and has become the home of a number of world-class artists active and willing to share their knowledge and skills.

Peter began a dedicated and intense program of self-education in art, under the guidance of several established artists.

"To better understand the basics of painting, I took an 18-month cycle on art theory, offered by local watercolor artist Cathy Quiel.

"This was followed by periods of studio studies, critiques, figure drawing, and en plein air, drawing and painting under local artists including John Iwerks, Paula Sandefur, Duane Unkefer, Jorgen Hansen, Chris Chapman, Jim Armstrong, Thomas Van Stein and Michael Drury.

"I took many classes and read everything I could find on the subject. Upon being introduced to painting outdoors, I obtained an appreciation of the task of simplifying the real world into a two-dimensional painting. Also, I began to recognize the subtle colors and shades of a landscape."

Before long, Peter was producing a volume of paintings and sold his first piece in December, 1998. In all, he has sold or given away 150 works, out of about 450 works he has completed.

While continuing his art studies and prolific painting schedule, Peter immersed himself in the local art community, contributing his administration and business skills to a variety of organizations. He is a past President of both the Santa Barbara Art Association and the Goleta Valley Art Association, is a member of the Santa Barbara Studio Artists, The Los Padres Watercolor Society, and of SCAPE (the Southern California Artists Painting for the Environment), a Patron Member of the California Art Club, and a Founder and Director of the Santa Barbara Visual Arts Alliance.

Evolving a Genre Style

Although he has trained in landscape work, Peter found himself gravitating toward including figures in his pieces.

"Always I have found a great desire to include people in my paintings. People add life. Landscapes, while often beautiful, somehow seemed lacking in reality without people. To improve my people painting skills, I added many classes in drawing and painting of the figure, both in indoor and outdoor settings and both nude and clothed.

"From these early attempts and struggles, I have evolved where today I paint primarily figurative Genre artwork."

Peter notes that his paintings are most often based upon his memories of interesting people glimpsed but never known. He takes hundreds of digital photographs around Santa Barbara or when traveling and among these a certain image will inspire him as the basis for one of his paintings.

"People going about their lives are always fascinating. Often it is easy to relate to their activities. Sometimes they trigger a thought from the past. And, each time one looks, there is something different to see."

Peter's technique is to paint directly onto canvas while displaying the chosen photos on his laptop screen. Often he uses multiple images from a variety of different events or locations and merges them together into one evocative scene. "I try to capture the feelings and interactions of the actors, with subtlety and humor. Frequently, each painting is tied into an underlying back story."

Choosing the Perfect Media to Tell the Stories

Peter's artistic journey has included exploration into a number of media and techniques. Initially, after early work in pen and ink, he settled on watercolor on paper, as much for its beauty as for the skill it requires. Says Peter, "Everyone told me it was 'the more difficult medium.' For me that only made it more interesting. All my life I have loved challenges!"

He then began using white opaque gouache in his watercolors and to seek effects not easy to obtain with conventional watercolor.

"About this time I was introduced to a new media 'textured clayboard.' This ridged base was developed for water media painting and was especially suited for gouache. Also, when protected with varnish, the finished work could be displayed without the protective glass of conventional watercolor. These developments led to a five-year productive period of painting in gouache on board.

"One of the serious problems of painting on board is the weight. Large boards can weigh many pounds and are difficult to hang. For some time I had a desire to move to larger sizes, but the weight was discouraging. A few years ago, another local artist, Warner Nienows, encouraged me to move to oil on canvas.

"With his guidance I obtained the materials and began to use the technique. All my recent work is in this medium."

Essential Understanding of Marketing

Peter's many years in business have made him very aware of the need to continually promote his work on as many avenues as possible. He has a high-profile web presence with his own website and blog, and sends out email newsletters and regular mail postcards. He makes his art available as quality prints and cards from a respected print-on-demand website and shows his art directly from his studio and adjacent home. He also ensures that he has at least one painting in a local collaborative gallery.

He has sold works through each of these outlets and found each to have advantages and disadvantages. He knows there is no one perfect solution and the key is to keep promoting broadly.

This May, he has a solo exhibit in a local gallery, and another exhibit as Principal Artist in another gallery in July. He also participates in a regional studio tour for local professional artists each Labor Day.

Establishing the Legacy of His Body of Work

"I believe I still have several hundred paintings yet to paint. I keep a rigid daily painting schedule, producing a steady stream of paintings.

"As I get older (I will be eighty next birthday) it is not so easy to get around and exhibit in outdoor locations. And local exhibit sites are mostly oriented towards tourists, who want a souvenir of the local scenery and generally something small to go into their suitcase.

"Also, my Genre paintings are not always what someone would want to decorate their walls. But I am lucky in that I paint what I like to paint. I am not driven to paint to sell - though storage is becoming a problem."

His growing body of work led Peter to begin to consider its legacy, and how it will go forward into the future.

Fortuitously, Peter discovered the unique, patented tagging and registration system provided by Fine Art Registry® and began tagging and registering all the oil paintings in his inventory immediately, as well as every new piece he has produced since.

As each painting is completed, he tags and photographs it and then registers it in his online portfolio provided free to all Fine Art Registry members. Not only can visitors to the site view all his tagged and registered pieces, they can contact him directly from the site about pieces they are interested in purchasing. FAR® takes no commission on any sales the site generates for members.

Establishing the authenticity of his paintings with Fine Art Registry for the future gives Peter peace of mind. "Hopefully they will become important as the years roll by. Establishing a provenance will help owners in the future. As I get older, I begin to think more and more of what may happen to work after I am gone. Also, the cost is very small for a great service."

In the meantime, Peter continues on his chosen path of learning and communicating his vision of the world and its people.

"Studying art and art history is a never-ending process, with always more to discover and skills to hone. Painting is a continual learning effort. I am always experimenting - trying new subjects, new methods, and new materials."

All the while inspiring viewers to see the fascinating stories around them every day.

Visit Peter's Fine Art Registry gallery here and his website www.PeterWorsley.com.

Artist's FAR Registered Pieces | Entire FAR Portfolio › | Sales Gallery › | Biography ›

— by Georgianna Lane  |  May 1, 2009  |  Print Version - PDF

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