STEVE CALDWELL
PAINTING FOR REAL
Award-winning Wirral artist, Steve Caldwell is
known for his meticulously realistic portraits.
His sitters have included a design icon, a Wall
Street financier, actors, dancers and underground
musicians.
Following studies at Wirral Metropolitan College, he
trained as a medical artist at Glyndwr University. This
led to a career in book illustration, fine art and a current
period specialising in realist portraiture.
Steve’s paintings have been widely exhibited and he has
displayed work with The Royal Society of Portrait Painters,
The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition and at The
National Portrait Gallery’s BP Portrait Award Exhibition.
The Bebington-based artists tells Wirral Life about his
work, influences and what it was like to collaborate with
British design legend, Wayne Hemingway MBE.
What led you to your current specialisation in portrait
painting?
I thoroughly enjoyed working as an illustrator and having
the opportunity to paint a wide variety of subjects such
as books for children but painting people has always
fascinated me most of all. Now that I specialise almost
solely in portraiture, I can fully concentrate on scrutinizing
anatomy and texture in great detail and hopefully produce
artwork that has the realism of a photograph combined
with the texture of a painting - a form of heightened reality.
Tell us about your recent portrait of designer Wayne
Hemingway.
I’ve admired Wayne’s work since I was an art student. He
is a multi-disciplinary designer with a social conscience
and is sincere about producing design which improves
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everyday life for people. Whether that is product design,
interiors, branding or architecture. I was keen to paint a
notable figure in the design industry as that is where my
interests lie. Also, he is visually strong and I was delighted
that his portrait was recently selected for display at this
years Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition
at The Mall Galleries in central London.
As an artist, who are your main influences?
I enjoy most styles of painting from hyper-realism to
abstract expressionism but I am drawn to figurative
painters such as Andrew Wyeth, Lucian Freud and
Norman Rockwell. I admire the intensity of their work
and the struggle to paint more than just a physical
likeness. Contemporary painters such as Philip Harris
and Lewis Chamberlain also inspire me to work harder
and use painted detail and texture to describe in depth the
personality and identity of my sitters.
How do you select your portrait sitters? What do you
look for when painting a portrait?
I am fascinated by all kinds of people and I see lots of
faces everyday that I would like to paint. Occasionally,
I will approach a prospective sitter in the street, give
them my card and ask if they would be kind enough to
allow me to paint them. Thankfully, their reactions are
generally very positive. Luckily, sitters also approach me
with requests to have their portrait painted. I enjoy taking
on portrait commissions and have been very lucky over
the years to have received commissions from private
collectors, advertising agencies and book publishers. I was
recently asked to paint Wall Street financier, Larry Fink of
BlackRock for Bloomberg Media in New York which was
very interesting.
To find out more about Steve’s work,
visit www.stevecaldwell.co.uk