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Inspiration From Artists Wk 213 Featuring Artist : Peter Monaghan and Toss Wollaston.

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Paul (Dixie) Dean

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Welcome to this weeks thread , this week the featuring artists are : Peter Monaghan and Toss Wollaston . Jenny will start the week with her introduction to the artwork of Peter Monaghan and on Wednesday Sandra will present another New Zealand abstract artist . Enjoy your week and keep safe and well .

Jenny Harris

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PETE MONAGHAN, born 1961 in Stroud, Gloucestershire, is a contemporary artist working from studios in both Aberystwyth and Southern Germany.  He is known for his works depicting vernacular architecture, especially on the ‘Celtic fringes’ of Wales, Ireland and Scotland, as well as the higher slopes of the Alps.  He is fascinated by neglected and dilapidated places whose forms are often beautiful and their stories compelling. After training in mechanical engineering and technical illustration, he spent over 20 years in Germany as an illustrator, later earning an MA in Fine Art.  His mixed media art merges technical illustration with abstraction and he works on wood panel with acrylics, incorporating collage, maps, spray paint, crayons and marker pens to create his textured layered surfaces. He frequently sketches on location and re-works images in his studio.  His work is typically around 25 x 25 cm, 50 x 40 cm or 100 x 100 cm. A few of his sketches

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by Jenny Harris

Tessa Gwynne

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I’m generally not enthusiastic about the use of collage, and I avoid the use of black in my own work, though I do sometimes like the construction lines to show through. So why do I like this work so much!? His subject matter attracts me, and I like the bold lines and obvious confidence he shows together with great use of colour. I like all of the above, but perhaps the pink cottage scene is my favourite, though hard to choose one. I also like his still life. Thank you Jenny, yet another  really good find. 
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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I'm not keen on collage either - but these just work, don't they?  I'm sure I've seen his work before, but not in this profusion or in one place - a very good find, thank you. Tessa - I'm also with you in having avoided black in paintings, for much of my life - but the Zorn palette requires it, and I've used it there; and I've just completed an acrylic knife painting, of which I'm wanting to do a lot more, and found a bit of black really very helpful: I've got to stop talking about paintings, and start posting them again!   Then, one  day in the distant future, someone will  discover my stuff (too late to do ME any good) and post it on a site like this.   Well,  you never know..... Thank you Jenny, of course - and to Paul for starting this whole exercise in the first place.

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by Robert Jones, Napa

Tessa Gwynne

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Ah yes Robert, now you say that I have used black occasionally in the Zorn palette.  You are right in saying that his mixed media/collage works very well and I would like to see it in reality.  I always Imagine that using collage might result in a non flat surface which might not look shall we say professional, but these obviously don’t seem to suffer that. I wonder if he is on YouTube doing demos, must have a look. I do like his style of drawing very much.

Alan Bickley

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 Very impressive work, quite a few have the John Blockley influence but great to see!

Jenny Harris

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Tessa, you might find this interesting, although it’s not a full demonstration - it’s not a link but you can search for it.

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by Jenny Harris

Tessa Gwynne

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Thank you Jenny. I have found that and will have a better look later. 🙏
Entwined, abstract

Sandra Kennedy

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A quite different and interesting find Jenny. Certainly a lot to look at in these paintings. I'll join Robert in thanking you for all the work you put into this thread, and Paul too of course. 

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by Sandra Kennedy

Tessa Gwynne

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Tessa, you might find this interesting, although it’s not a full demonstration - it’s not a link but you can search for it.
Jenny Harris on 20/04/2026 14:58:48
I have just looked at this demo, very interesting. I assume he was drawing with a pen but not sure? There are quite a few more videos of him working so I will look at those also. 

Jenny Harris

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Tessa, if you find a more comprehensive demo., please post a link - I’d also be interested to see one.
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Paul (Dixie) Dean

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Jenny thank you for introducing us to this artist , I have been looking at his work over the past couple of day and I like what I see. All of his work is skilfully put together in a way that makes it interesting enough to want to look closely, I’m not particularly fond of collage but do enjoy some , we have a few  here on site that produce good results .
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