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trips to France and could often be found sat by a river under the shade of a tree. John’s cosy moss-covered cottage is nestled in the


Blackawton hills and each room contains a mixture of finished and unfinished work. When he moved here he fitted neatly into village life, helping out at the local primary where his daughter was a pupil. He also started a church choir: “The vicar was a game old boy and was up for the idea straight away. One Christmas we did Stevie Wonder’s ‘Isn’t she lovely’ but changed it to ‘he’ for the nativity. Loads of people joined and by the end we were doing cathedral quality stuff.” At the Millennium, he and Peter Richardson (of Channel 4’s Comic Strip fame) formed a soul band. Peter was on drums and on one occasion Rik Mayall joined them on lead vocals! When that all finished John became a DJ mixing music in his studio and playing it in pubs and at private parties. He gave it up after a few years, as he couldn’t be bothered to lug the heavy amps and synthesisers around. John’s an impressionist painter and says that means


you don’t have a message in your work – you just paint what you see, portraying a fleeting effect or a moment in time. He also does a fair bit of abstract art; a style where the end result doesn’t accurately represent what the artist sees – it’s more about how he or she feels about something. It can be just about


technique, colour and the look and surface of the paint. But he says abstracts are harder to sell because they are harder to look at. He uses oil paints because, amongst other reasons, he likes the smell! He paints in short spells through the day and often well into the night, stopping only for the odd bit of admin work and food. He usually has seven or eight pictures on the go at any one time and manages to finish between 50 and 70 a year. John says he loves his work, but admits he has trouble getting started each time: “I have many distraction techniques. I will do some unnecessary tidying or rearrange my paints or books, make another drink, clean a window, have a shave! Anything rather than sit down and make the first marks, but once I’ve started you won‘t stop me.” John has travelled the world in search of new images to paint. He bypasses obvious beauty spots, being drawn instead to unusual views of quiet French flower markets or forgotten Tuscan wooden gates just catching the evening light. Provence, the Cote d’Azur, Liguria, Umbria and Tuscany are some of his favourite places to find inspiration. He says he’s always looking for his next image and an ordinary shopping trip to Totnes can last hours as he loses himself down cobbled back streets considering each archway another potential gem on canvas. www.johndonaldsonart.co.uk


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