Dean Kendrick's Biography
| A selection of Dean Kendrick's work | ||
 Oscar |
 Watson |
 Duster |
I was born in Birmingham in 1970, the middle son of three children and from a very early age and throughout my school years I loved to draw and paint. After studying at Bourneville College of Art I turned my hand to many creative occupations including portraiture, landscape gardening, graphic designer and as an illustrator.
In 1996 I relocated when offered a position with a large gift ware company in the historic and beautiful town of Stratford-upon-Avon. This provided the creative challenge to design and artwork in different styles for a range of products and tastes. I have painted for my own pleasure throughout my career selling my work to individual buyers and small galleries along the way. My ambition is to focus on what I am truly drawn to, painting beautiful compositions as a published fine artist.
Washington Green have now provided the exciting opportunity to show my work to the public for the first time.
One of my earliest and strongest memories is of watching my Grandmother Rebecca drawing amazing pictures in biro on scraps of paper. It was truly magic to me that she could just draw anything from her imagination. I have to give credit to her for giving me my fascination with art.
I have painted in many different styles over the years and have found that sometimes less is more. If the eye sees an image that is so complete, and full of detail, the viewers mind can be uninterested, because it understands completely what it sees. I want the person who is looking at my painting, for just a few moments in time to be completely lost in the beauty of it.
I draw my inspiration from the world around me, always aware of movement and light formations. I sketch constantly and carry a pen and paper at all times just in case an idea springs up with no warning. Images fill my head in everyday life and even in my dreams, which gives rise to restless nights. This is one of the reasons I like painting at night, as once I have removed these thoughts I can sleep.
When planning a composition I start with a rough idea in my mind, then play the scene in my head over and over until I can see with clarity that one captured moment. I usually draw backwards, painting with light first rather than shadow. I take a dark sheet of paper and capture highlights of movement and form. This is a great approach because you don't get involved with filling spaces in, your focus is still on that 'captured moment'.
I generally paint with mixture oils and acrylics, but will experiment with other mediums along the way, keeping myself open to new methods and approaches. I will have the colour for the background in mind while sketching, the next stage is to fill the canvas with colour, tones and textures, setting the scene with an atmospheric space in which the subject will fit. At this stage I will place the canvas at the other end of the room and I sit with my original sketches to see if I have achieved what I set out to do. Then I carefully add light and colour until the image I see in my mind slowly emerges from the canvas. I concentrate on some areas whist intentionally leaving intriguing areas vague. I know when I have finished a painting when I cant stop looking at it, almost like it has come alive asking for your attention and involvement.
My morning begins with my wife Jane demanding the essential kick start coffee before the busy routine of the school run. By 9am I'm in the relative sanity of the design studio. I finish work at 5pm and return home for supper and time with my family. At 7.30 I go back into my studio, (which is currently a very cold and draughty spare room) then I begin on my work.
I usually have a good idea what I need to achieve in an evening and set myself a goal. It may be to paint a whole canvas background with colour and texture or it maybe working on sketching ideas until I have a composition I am happy with. Lloyd and Jane usually pop their heads round the door to see how things are progressing. Sometimes I paint until about 10pm and then join Jane downstairs for a glass of wine and sometimes I completely lose track of time and fall into bed at about 3am! At the moment my day is long and demanding, but the pleasure and excitement from working on my own compositions makes the hard work so worthwhile.
