Ray Balkwill Interview

Davidson Fine Art interviews Ray Balkwill

Art and painting have always been a part of your life but did you ever want to do anything else for a living?

No. Throughout my life there have been two continuous threads and both have been entwined from a very early age. One has been my love of art and the other my love of the natural world. I feel fortunate to be able to have combined both into a successful career.

What do you think is the most important trait in an artist?

Damned hard work! As Turner once said: ‘Painting is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.’

Is there a scene that you still want to paint but haven’t yet?

I live on the Exe Estuary and every time I go down there it’s never the same. There’s more than a lifetimes work here.

You paint in oil and mixed media, which is your favourite?

To quote Marc Chagall: ‘I work in whatever medium likes me at the moment.’

If you could travel back in time and paint alongside any artist from history, who would it be?

I would love to have sat in a gondola with John Singer Sargent as he sketched a Venetian scene in watercolour.

You have had quite a lot of coverage on TV, could you ever see yourself hosting an arty programme?

Well, not exactly – just a few minutes of TV fame perhaps? Although people say I came over well I was petrified. So the answer has to be a definite no, it’s far too stressful.

What is your favourite period in the history of art?

It would have to be the Victorian era. It was the most brilliant phase in the history of watercolours.

Who do you most admire?

Sir Alfred Munnings. He overcame many adversaries in his life including the tragic consequences of his first marriage to losing the sight of an eye in an accident when he was just twenty. However this did not deflect from his determination to paint to the very end of his life.

Whose portrait would you most like to paint?

I don’t paint portraits – you have to be a ‘real’ artist to do that!

Now some lighter questions:

Swanky restaurant or cook at home?

Sadly I am a lousy cook so it would have to a swanky restaurant.

Staycation or far flung shores?

Without doubt Staycation. There are so many magical places on our doorstep waiting to be discovered.

Play or musical?

It has to be a musical. I was a member of the Bath Light Operatic Society for many years so it’s in my blood I think.

Couldn’t get through the weekend without…?

A walk with our collie ‘Kez’ along the estuary - oh and with my wife Jane, of course!

And finally, we ask everyone this, who from history would you most like to buy a pie and a pint?

A difficult one, but I think it would be one of our national treasures, Charles Dickens.

View paintings by Ray Balkwill