An artist reaches a milestone with the opening of his 40th solo show at the Forum in Norwich this morning.
John Patchett, who described his work as 'sitting squarely between impressionism and the mainstream landscape tradition', will attend the exhibition until it closes on Sunday, August 3.
The 40th solo show will include 50 recent pastel paintings by the 67-year-old artist, who lives in Beccles and is director of art at Framingham Earl High School.
He will also be signing copies of his book Painting from the Heart, which was published last year.
He said that, because of his experience of painting with oils and acrylics, he used pastels very much as a 'painting' medium and had developed a technique which built up numerous layers of transparent and opaque colour, creating rich and diverse results.
He tries to paint on location as much as possible and aims to express 'my love of light, mood and atmosphere whenever and wherever possible'.
After studying at Grimsby School of Art, Kingston-upon-Thames College of Art and Brighton College of Art, Mr Patchett settled in Australia where he lived for 19 years, before returning to England in 1994 to settle in East Anglia.
As well as holding solo shows in England and Australia, his pastel paintings have been exhibited in Japan, New Zealand and with the Pastel Society.
His paintings cover a wide range of subject matter, including East Anglian landscapes, cityscapes, Broadland scenes, gardens, sun-lit markets, street cafés, marine and coastal locations.
And for those who do not know his art, he may be more familiar as the artist at his easel pictured on the front of the Norwich edition of the board game
Monopoly.
During the exhibition, Mr Patchett will share some of his creative secrets, and demonstrate the practical techniques of his pastel painting, at selected times in the afternoons.
Are you holding a special art event over the summer? Email martin.george@archant.co.uk
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