ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT
KENT ARTIST PROFILE :
DUNCAN ELLERINGTON
COMBINING HIS LOVE OF PHYSICS AND ART TO CREATE PIECES THAT EXPERIMENT WITH LIGHT AND SHOW ALL THE SURREAL BEAUTY OF KENTISH LANDSCAPES , ARTIST DUNCAN ELLERINGTON HAS A TRULY UNIQUE APPROACH AND STYLE WHEN IT COMES TO WATERCOLOUR .
Tell us a little bit about what led you to becoming an artist and how you would describe your art ?
For me , art + science = creativity . My journey involves science and art . I started as a coal miner in Nottingham including a mining engineering degree . Then I turned to art , gaining a place at the Royal College of Art and exhibiting nationally in that period with a dealer and at galleries in London . I love physics as well and regard it as a creative subject . I eventually ended up as deputy head at a Kent school and I even have a science department building named after me , but I returned to full-time painting five years ago and now I successfully sell paintings again both in galleries and online .
Tell us a little bit about the techniques and process you undergo to create your art .
For landscape , this is always outside and never in a studio . I use books of high quality watercolour paper ( never white ) that I make myself and use a small bijou box of watercolours and gouache to paint everything outside . The paper and paints I use are carefully chosen for their quality and colour . I carry all my equipment into the landscapes and paint several from that point . Landscape changes in an instant and I have developed a process to capture the light as quickly as it changes . I am inspired by Turner and Constable sketchbooks and the Zen approach .
What is it about the landscapes of Kent that you find so inspiring ?
I mainly work in Dover and Deal . It is the most underrated landscape in the country and the light is stunning . I work from the White Cliffs and on Broadlees Farm next to Dover Castle . I live on the North Downs Way and paint around this area as well . I think the light has changed with global weather changes and is probably more like the light the impressionists ( particularly Monet ) were painting over a hundred years ago in northern France .
How has your background as a physicist influenced your artwork ?
I believe that the two most creative minds of the 20th century were Picasso and Einstein . Physics can only be really understood with lashings of imagination . Creativity is not the sole domain of the arts . I still teach both art ( as a practising artist ) and physics and love both . You must see both in a new and creative way . I know how the sun works and this helps me understand how to paint the light it produces .
Where can we see / purchase your art ?
My website www . duncanelleringtonart . com and on Instagram and Linkedin @ duncanelleringtonart and Twitter @ ArtEllerington . I have an exhibition at the Linden Hall Studio ( www . lindenhallstudio . co . uk ) in Deal at present . I have exhibited in London and have works in New York , Italy and in the Scottish National Collection .
www . duncanelleringtonart . com
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