Chris Forsey, painter

www.chrisforsey.com

Chris studied art and graphics at Bristol and became an illustrator in a publisher's studio, self taught as a watercolour painter he is constantly trying to extend and add to his skills. He has exhibited with the Royal Watercolour Society and the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour and runs his own watercolour classes in Surrey and Sussex and in the Greek Islands. He re-appraises his style and technique on a regular basis and this has led him towards a mixed-media approach in his work, combining watercolour, acrylic, pastel and gouache. Exhilarated by colour and surface he enjoys creating textured layers of dry-brushed colour that allow hints of complementary hue to glow through, thus creating an exciting surface of scattered, broken colour. Specialising in landscape subjects, exploring the themes of man-made alongside the organic: buildings by water; structure emerging from a rocky cliff, sometimes with figures contributing to this theme, inhabiting the middle ground between buildings and the wildness of nature. Inspired by downland, coastal scenes of the UK and the Mediterranean, cafe life and townscapes. He captures the sense of a place at a specific moment, season or time of day, always endeavouring to bring passion and immediacy to his work. He won the Matt Bruce Memorial Award light and colour at the 2007 RI exhibition. Chris Forsey was awarded the Lincoln Joyce / F. Donald Blake Award at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour in 2006.