Roy Hammond

Roy was born in London on Christmas Day in 1934 and started painting at school – scenery for school plays, posters etc.  He first became a technical illustrator and then a design engineer working for the Ford Motor Company for 32 years before retiring in 1987.

He has painted professionally since 1978 and is represented by Chris Beetles Gallery, St James’s, one of the leading watercolour galleries in London (www.chrisbeetles.com), since 1983 where he participates in many sell-out exhibitions.

Roy joined the Wapping Group of artists in 1993.

He gets inspiration from Turner, Albert Goodwin, Hercules Brabazon Brabazon, Roland Batchelor and others.  He has travelled extensively worldwide and his paintings are topographical, capturing the realistic atmosphere and colour of each location.  He also paints many local scenes including London and its river.

He has exhibited in the RWS, The Hunting Group, Singer and Friedlander/Sunday Times competitions and the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition, also contributed articles to a number of art magazines and many paintings have been reproduced as greeting cards and calendars.  The Illustrated London News has twice commissioned covers for their publication and his work is to be found in National Institutions and private collections worldwide.

Roy’s preferred image size is around 8 or 10 x 6 inches. When painting he does not do detailed drawing, but moves to the brush as soon as possible. His paintings sometimes undergo considerable changes as they develop; starting with transparent washes and using bodycolour for highlights. He prefers to have his subject some distance away from him so that he can concentrate on capturing the atmosphere and the general feel of the subject. Like many plein-air artists he likes to let his pictures settle and views them later in a different light. This can lead to small but decisive changes and, occasionally, to radical alterations.