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Inspiration from Artists Wk 204 Featuring Artist: Donna Young and Simon Dolby .

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Lewis Cooper

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A very skilled artist, but not hitting the spot for me.  I’m getting a sense of abandoned cities etc, not many signs of life.  No people.  A personal preference of course, others aren’t bothered.
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Marjorie Firth

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Skilful but not exciting enough for me.
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Paul (Dixie) Dean

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A few of his landscapes which I much prefer, some do look a bit desolate but I suppose that’s his style or work, no doubt about his artistic skills . 
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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I  think he's more interested in the play of light than he is - perhaps - in peopling his landscapes; it's always a bit of a dilemma: to include figures or not, and to make them look real and not pasted in, or confirming some patronizing impression of a rural idyll.  I had to stop and think about his work, but having done that - I think it repays a bit of quiet contemplation, like my mate Corot's paintings: they don't hit you in the chops, but get there in the end, as it were.   The lakeside painting - dusk, or maybe very early morning, is beautiful; the Venice scene - for all the activity depicted, it does seem oddly static to me - dare I say it, but the water does look a bit like a patch of lino... I've never been there though, so perhaps I do him an injustice; I could certainly live with all of his other paintings. 

Tessa Gwynne

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I thought maybe he doesn’t like painting or including figures but then found this which I quite like, of market day at Oundle. Some of his other street scenes, while being painted really well remind me of Covid lockdown days!
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Lewis Cooper

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That’s better Tessa  (well for me anyway).  Oddly enough, I had the same thought about those surreal and awful Covid days. Bye the way, and nothing to do with this thread.  Back then we had a thread about our experiences during Covid.  My thoughts about the deserted streets in these paintings prompted me to look it up.  I’d put it on my POL wall.  It’s like a social document.  Strange days.
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Paul (Dixie) Dean

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I did say I would add some of his wife’s artwork, Gillian Dolby is an illustrator and has illustrated quite a few book , some for the Ladybird series, her work is so different to her husband’s, I actually like it despite it being aimed predominantly at children, ok I’m a big child .  The Artist .

Tessa Gwynne

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Those are great fun. I loved the Ladybird books. There is perhaps a similarity in subject matter with all her detailed buildings, though I’m thinking that the people in her second picture would struggle to get through her doors! Nice one Dixie.
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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Ladybird books used to be written by authorities like Brian Vesey Fitzgerald, and illustrated by artists like  Tunnicliffe, and Rowland Green - very different from those shown above, which seem to be aimed at MUCH younger children; nothing wrong with the latter, though I was brought up on the former, and recently bought a set of them  from back in the day.  Beautifully illustrated, accurate, not a cutesy-wootsy mouse to be found  - just  good, naturalistic drawings and paintings of wildlife, flowers, trees - mirrored in their high quality by the old Brooke Bond Tea cards, which I used to collect.  I had plenty of the more whimsical  illustrations too - but am glad we had access to really good drawing, often watercolour paintings too, from Thorburn onwards.   Ms Dolby has actually covered a very wide field of illustration, it's not all rodents dressed up in human clothing; it seems she uses traditional methods to create her pictures, from what I can see of them: there's good work done on computers, but I'd always rather see the touch of human hand, and the application of washes  of colour rather than blocks of pixels created on an Ipad.  But - I admit to being a bit conservative and more than a bit nostalgic for the old days. 

Jenny Harris

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Agree with Tessa, these are great fun - love the Dora Dormouse illustrations.  Couldn’t be more different to her husband’s work.
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Paul (Dixie) Dean

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I was pleasantly surprised when I looked up her work , I have a book of around two hundred front covers of the Ladybird book. Interestingly both my younger granddaughters loved them a few year back and would make their own stories about the one they really liked, then they grow up a little and get the iPads . 
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Lewis Cooper

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They are packed with interest, and of great appeal to children.  Many fine artists have illustrated children’s books, and this skilful lady is another.
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