73 Interview by Steph Woolvin


John


Donaldson


One of the original “Dartmouth Five” artists still painting and living in Blackawton.


John Donaldson has been a jazz musician, choirmaster, DJ, classical organist and a landscape architect. However, he is now best known for his impressionist art, which he sells across the world. Back in the 90s he was one of the ‘Dartmouth Five’ alongside other artists Simon Drew, Paul Riley, John Gillo and Andras Kaldor. Now he quietly gets on with life, painting in his hillside cottage in Blackawton. Steph Woolvin went to meet him …


“T


he first drawing I remember doing was of the Queen’s Coronation back in 1953 – I was eight at the time. It was six foot long and on


the back of a roll of wallpaper!” John says his family didn’t own a TV, but they rented a small six-inch black and white set, which could only be seen properly if the curtains were drawn and they all sat as close as possible! Most images came from his imagination or the great outdoors. “I wasn’t sure back then if I definitely wanted to be an artist; I just enjoyed drawing and painting. My mother’s father was an artist, so I looked to him for inspiration, but he was a man of few words and wasn’t free flowing with his pearls of wisdom.” John’s mother died when he was young, which


Within a couple of years, at the age of 14, John became the youngest organist and choirmaster in Britain


put on hold. Back then you had to play football unless you had another interest: “I discovered there was an organ in the school chapel, so asked if I could learn it – anything to get out of football. But I actually enjoyed it and instantly got the bug.” He soon began playing in local churches and led their choirs. Within a couple of years, at the age of 14, John became the youngest organist and choirmaster in Britain. In 1965 John moved from Sussex


to Chichester and decided to use his creative skills and become a design and landscape architect – a career which saw him through the next ten years. “It


meant he was sent away from his hometown of Lewes to a boarding school, which, he says, was more like an orphanage than an academic institution, although he did receive a good education. He only had to suffer it for a few years as his father eventually re-married and was able to bring him home. He settled back into domestic life and once again became interested in art. He would regularly take to the streets with his watercolours: “When I was 12 and 13 I sat outside pubs painting them. I would then go in and try and sell the picture to the landlord, sometimes successfully. I’d love to think some of my childhood artwork is still hanging up behind bars in Sussex.” Everyone thought an artistic career was the way forward for John, but a hatred of school football meant his interest in art was


was during this time that I made the move away from the classical organ. The radio was on late at night and tuned into my favourite American station. Some top class jazz started playing – I was hooked and converted


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