Hello! Firstly, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to stop by. It's a very busy world out there and it can be tricky finding the time to stop, take a breath, and look at art. I hope you will allow me some more time to share mine with you.

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Whilst I have you, I'll introduce myself.

I'm Ryan.

I'm a painter and illustrator based in Ramsgate, England.

I'm a lifelong creative and have been painting since 2011.

That's the basics covered. I'll get into just what it is I do and why. I'll start with a brief overview of painting as an activity. Painting a picture involves using a specific set of materials and making decisions as to what to do with them. The limitless possibilities of those decisions is why I love painting, paintings and painters. The choice of techniques, styles, colour, subject matter, materials and compositions is an infinitely variable playground. In tandem, these things allow an outlet for my cluttered mind. I love the long history and the stories of people, brushes and the wet colorful stuff. Above all, I love to ask questions. I see a painting and ask: what's the story here? Why was this made? Why in this way? Why paint at all when you can just take a photo?

In my work I want to spark that same curiosity. Much of my work is set in the areas I grew up in along the same east Kent coast with sunsets that inspired JMW Turner. Often showing those spaces that are quiet, empty, liminal. I focus on the fleeting snapshots of places familiar and nostalgic. A study in shared everyday experience and contemporary life. I want people not only to go to the places I've been but to feel maybe you've already been there. As I say, it's a busy world with very little time to stop. There's a lot to miss if you rush on by. I invite you to pause for a moment with me, and consider the things we so rarely pay attention to. To ask why someone would go out of their way to spend hours and hours of their time rendering the mundane in oil paint. A lamppost, a bin on a street corner in the rain, or a car being driven home. Perfect, wonderfully un-wonderful things and the stories they tell. These paintings are my stories. From the complex to the simple, these are the things, places and people I've found around the world that have stopped me in my tracks and said 'I want YOU to see this too'. The goal is to keep travelling, keep creating, and to keep sharing these stories.

I'm sure you must be getting bored of all this waffle so I'll start wrapping it up. Firstly I'd like to thank you for reading all of that! Getting me to write anything at all is a 'blood from a stone' situation so really, it means the world. Secondly I'd like to thank the support of my family and friends who provide just the right amount of arse-kicking to get me to work on my art in the first place.

I'll finish off with the open offer to ask any questions you might have about my work, future projects, shows or commissions. Part of the fun of this whole gig is the conversations I get to have about it. I would love to bring you along for all the things I have in store for the future.

 

So fill your boots, have a gander at my work. I hope it brings something positive to your day. Even if it doesn't, have a good one, stay curious and maybe see you out there.

 

all the best,

Ryan