Havant artist celebrating first painting exhibited in a gallery draws inspiration from area’s ‘fantastic’ sunrises

Ian Andrews, who lives in East Street, was pleased to have his acrylic painting ‘Fountain at Cancale’ selected for The Spring’s recent Water exhibition.

Ian, 70, was encouraged by his wife Sara to submit a piece of work to the exhibition.

He said: ‘It’s nice to have the painting selected.’

‘Fountain at Cancale’ was inspired by a sculpture of two fisherwomen Ian spotted on a cycling trip while on holiday in San Marlo with Sara.

He said: ‘The sun was coming from behind them. I’m quite pleased with that one.’

The artist works nearly entirely in acrylic paints, although he sometimes experiments with oils.

Ian, who has one granddaughter and two daughters, said: ‘I retired about 10 years ago and did some sketching mostly while on holidays. ‘More recently I started painting portraits and landscapes.’

On average turning out one painting a week, many of Ian’s works are inspired by sunsets and bodies of water in his local area.

Ian, who used to be a schoolteacher, said: ‘I only paint things that I really like. Quite a lot of my paintings are of places near me - the sunrise can be just fantastic.

‘I love some of the things that I see, and people are interested in local scenes.’

Ian did a year of art college as a young man but abandoned his art until he retired.

Now, he draws inspiration from a number of different artists, and has visited exhibitions in London with his wife.

SEE ALSO: Choir says singing helped them through the pandemic - and urges others to join

He said: ‘I’m pretty much self-taught - I think I’m getting better.’

‘I just like the colours and light. I do it for the fun of it.

‘They’re quite literal, my paintings.

‘I was quite surprised that the things I produced were quite good, and people were happy to have them on their walls.’

Half of the profits Ian took from his work last year were donated to Portsmouth charity Enable Ability.

Ian, who works in a studio extension in his home, also likes to paint portraits, often working from photographs.

He said: ‘I’ve painted people who have died, family members, or nice-looking people, I’ll ask if I can paint them.’

Visit ians.gallery.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

You can subscribe here for unlimited access to our online coverage, including Pompey, for 27p a day.