Outlook


Stephen's brush with brilliance


SUE PARISH meets Stephen Lennon, a local artist whose landscape paintings are becoming popular with art lovers all over the North West


THE rolling hills and moody skies of Lancashire and Yorkshire are vividly captured in the work of Cowling artist


Stephen Lennon. He records the changing hues of his sur­


for a while, so I was delighted when he agreed to lay down his brushes for a while to talk about his work and interests. I met Stephen at the comfortable stone


roundings, from sunlit summer lanes to the brooding mystery of dusky autumn hills, and his work is becoming popular with art lovers across the North West. I have been fascinated by his paintings


house in Ickornshaw where he lives with his wife, Laila, and children, Hannah (10) and Tom (0). He described how he began painting some years ago after growing dis­ illusioned with the more bizarrcly bureau­ cratic demands of life as a postman, and a further period of employment as a colour processor at a photographic printers. Said Stephen, who was born and brought


up in the Rosegrove area of Burnley: “I was given a set of oil paints when I was about 10, but 1 didn’t pursue it seriously at first.”He got the time to concentrate on his


artistic career after the birth of the Len- nons’ daughter, Hannah. As Laila wanted to continue her teaching


1985, and although he found the technique tricky at first, this improved after nights- chooi lessons and lie began to explore the medium. Says Stephen: “1 did a lot of experiment­


career, he took the laudable step of becom­ ing a “househusband” — possibly one of Cowling’s first! He began painting in watercolours in


ing at first, and although I was influenced by a number of people it was a case of trying to find my own style. “ I work mainly in watercolour, but


sometimes add detail in pastel and gouache, and my pictures are much stronger than people’s traditional expecta­ tions of watercolour.


TRANSPARENCY


“I like watercolour because of its trans­ parency, also because you can complete something in a relatively short time com­


pared to oils. “It’s more unpredictable in a way —


there’s always the chance of effects that


T h a n k s f o r t h e m e m o r i e s


OWE read with pleasure the article by Tony Thorpe in Outlook — “Roger


Roger was to perform, he was so popular. As he said in 0«/look, making people laugh gave him a big kick. We know his fans were happy just to talk to him between songs. He had a terrific personality, and was in his natural element making them happy. Your article will have brought back


and was so popular thal our telephone rang continuously on Mondays, with people ask­ ing “Is Roger on tonight?” or “1 am bring­ ing a party — will there be room?” The pub began to fill up two hours before


began his solo gigs in that “smoke-filled room”. He was an instant sensation, to put it mildly. He had a regular Monday night booking,


Westbrook: 25 years of folk music”. We had the Towneley Arms when Roger


you may not have intended, of happy


accidents.” One of Stephen’s “happy accidents” was


the discovery of using speckles of paint to create a sense of texture and detail in his work. Flicking layers of colour onto the work is a technique he still uses, although more sparingly than in his first “textural pictures”, which were almost pointilist in approach. He explains: “I followed the technique as


explains. “It is different from painting buildings in a town, where they ARE the landscape.”


PARIS SALON


far as I could, and I have incorporated it into the general style, but I can’t do them completely like that because it is limited in the subjects you can use it for. “I now use it in areas of the paintings


When it comes to selling his pictures, Ste­ phen admits that there are odd ones that he finds it hard to let go off, and they are hung in the house for a while before he can bear to part with them. His work is sold in a number of galleries


“Quite a lot of paintings where you think you have discovered something new can be red herrings and lead you up a blind alley. It takes a while to realise that you have got a style of your own.” Although he dislikes the word “inspira­


where I want to create the illusion of detail. It is all pretty far away from the traditional watercolour technique. RED HERRINGS


would like to create bigger paintings, as he enjoys working on a large scale, although these pieces are harder to sell. His dream is to see his work exhibited in the pres­ tigious Paris Salon, but in the meantime he is content to carry on painting for local collectors. Says Stephen: “For me, one of the


in Lancashire and Yorkshire, and he also has an outlet in Solihull, but lie would like to sell more paintings in London and the South. As far as the future is concerned, he


tion”, Stephen’s paintings stem from his love of the countryside, and he enjoys set­ ting off for a walk across the moors in wild and dramatic weather, armed with his camera. In fact, he has had the occasional contre-


appeals of what I do is the idea that one day, somewhere in the distant future, someone will still have a painting with my name on it. “I have a watercolour on my wall which


many memories to patrons of the Tow­ neley at that time. It was a very happy period, with Roger, Jeffrey on the organ (Mrs Clarke’s uncle), concerts by the Burnley Alliance Silver Band, and those wonderful Lancashire Nights performed by the theatre group from the old Co-op Buildings in Hammerton Street. Thank you, Roger, and everyone else, for those unforgettable memories.


Mr & Mrs CLARKE (Arthur and Milly) Ex-Towneley Arms. Melville Street, ■ Burnley. □ i


temp with farmers who thought that Ste­ phen and his pad of paper might be a man from the ministry, rather than an innocent artist. His recent acquisition of a telephoto lens makes it easier for him to get the scenes he wants without running the risk of being chased from the fields by irate agriculturalists! His greatest preoccupation is with the


7 . . . 7 '


scape and often tucks them away in the folcl of a hill, half hidden from sight. “I see the buildings as being part of the land­ scape, in it rather than on it, because they are often made from the surrounding stone, and have as much right to be there as the trees.and everything, else,.”, he


sky, and it is often this that dominates his pictures, from the brightness of crisp autumn days to the looming purple clouds of an approaching storm. He sees buildings as part of the land­


however, for he plays guitar in a jazz band by way of relaxation. The Wild Things con­ sists of himself, and a trio of Andrews: Andrew Burton on tenor sax, Andy Tate on piano, and Andy Brown on clarinet. Don’t let the ferocious sounding title put you off — the band, who excepting Ste­ phen are all teachers in the Lancashire area, take their name in ironical vein and promise their music is more gentle than their title. If you want to get a close]' look a Ste­


phen’s artwork it can be found locally at the Ashenden Fine Art Gallery, Burnley. And if you want to listen to his melodic


style, you can catch up with the band at the Hare and Hounds, Black Lane Ends, Colne, .on Wednesday .evenings. . . . . . .


someone painted in 1900, and it is still nice that their name lives on in their work. I like to know that 1 am producing some­ thing that people will value for a long time.” His talents are not limited to the brush,


I


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