''Collecting images together for this website has proved a challenging exercise. The paintings take a long time to paint and once they are sold I rarely review them. This is partly because they are on the easel for so long, the appetite for looking at them again has diminished. I feared that the experience would be akin to finding a forgotten diary; curiosity at what my younger self thought instantly replaced with embarrassment at what the thoughts actually were.
However I am glad to have made these paintings, and don't feel embarrassed in the way I feared. In the period represented by this site, my children have been born and grown into teenagers. It has been a privilege to chronicle this process through painting. I often think of all the important people in my life who have encouraged me, first as a student, and then as a young artist. They taught me what was important about painting, beyond the desire to make it into a commercial endeavour. I once made a glib observation about a very influential teacher's painting. I have never forgotten his reply, expressed with weary resignation (after a pause and a sigh to allow the words to gather their full weight): 'no-one shares my enthusiasm for my work'. This is doubly true in my case since many of the portraits are of my own children and the third person is unlikely to delight in their several shades of loveliness in the way that I do. I simply want to paint them, but I hope universal aspects of childhood also shine through. I have to commit to many hours when starting a painting so I like to paint a face that I want to look at for a sustained period. Family members are also less likely to pose self-consciously in the way that an individual committing himself to an artist for posterity might.
The face - 'that thin-skinned betrayer' - as John Updike memorably described it. I like to look at particular faces with a forensic scrutiny, which for me is a way of getting to know the person better. A painter will often want to record an encounter with a striking or influential individual by painting their portrait. Sometimes my encounters with people are recorded in ways that blend memories of other individuals. Paintings such as 'Girl with Strawberries' and 'Girl with Silver Necklace' are in this category. I sometimes look at young people and remember myself at their age. Recalling our youth can be a melancholy experience; but this may be tempered by the memories of intense experiences that stay with us throughout our lives.
For the Residency I developed a large number of drawings over a nine week period; around forty drawings from designated sittings in the gallery and 300 notebook studies of people on the journey to and from Southport from Lancaster. They didn't know they were being drawn, or at least kept their counsel if they did. I enjoyed the way that the normally 'dead' time of waiting for a train's journey to end yielded such fruit.
Other paintings on this site register rather more nebulous objectives. The earlier narrative paintings I made emerged as the pictures were being painted, with little conscious sense of what they were about or how they were going to be resolved. Like long lost friends, I feel nostalgic about these pictures but realise it would be a mistake to go back to them; the impossibility of recreating the life they grew out of, and thus the impossibility of making their like again with any sense of authenticity.
Finally, I dedicate this website to the memory of my father who died prematurely fourteen years ago. He endured pain throughout his life and taught me fortitude, stoicism and why I am grumpy in middle age. I value most the things he had no idea he was teaching me. For this reason, I have included a photograph of him on my home page.''
Peter Layzell
However I am glad to have made these paintings, and don't feel embarrassed in the way I feared. In the period represented by this site, my children have been born and grown into teenagers. It has been a privilege to chronicle this process through painting. I often think of all the important people in my life who have encouraged me, first as a student, and then as a young artist. They taught me what was important about painting, beyond the desire to make it into a commercial endeavour. I once made a glib observation about a very influential teacher's painting. I have never forgotten his reply, expressed with weary resignation (after a pause and a sigh to allow the words to gather their full weight): 'no-one shares my enthusiasm for my work'. This is doubly true in my case since many of the portraits are of my own children and the third person is unlikely to delight in their several shades of loveliness in the way that I do. I simply want to paint them, but I hope universal aspects of childhood also shine through. I have to commit to many hours when starting a painting so I like to paint a face that I want to look at for a sustained period. Family members are also less likely to pose self-consciously in the way that an individual committing himself to an artist for posterity might.
The face - 'that thin-skinned betrayer' - as John Updike memorably described it. I like to look at particular faces with a forensic scrutiny, which for me is a way of getting to know the person better. A painter will often want to record an encounter with a striking or influential individual by painting their portrait. Sometimes my encounters with people are recorded in ways that blend memories of other individuals. Paintings such as 'Girl with Strawberries' and 'Girl with Silver Necklace' are in this category. I sometimes look at young people and remember myself at their age. Recalling our youth can be a melancholy experience; but this may be tempered by the memories of intense experiences that stay with us throughout our lives.
For the Residency I developed a large number of drawings over a nine week period; around forty drawings from designated sittings in the gallery and 300 notebook studies of people on the journey to and from Southport from Lancaster. They didn't know they were being drawn, or at least kept their counsel if they did. I enjoyed the way that the normally 'dead' time of waiting for a train's journey to end yielded such fruit.
Other paintings on this site register rather more nebulous objectives. The earlier narrative paintings I made emerged as the pictures were being painted, with little conscious sense of what they were about or how they were going to be resolved. Like long lost friends, I feel nostalgic about these pictures but realise it would be a mistake to go back to them; the impossibility of recreating the life they grew out of, and thus the impossibility of making their like again with any sense of authenticity.
Finally, I dedicate this website to the memory of my father who died prematurely fourteen years ago. He endured pain throughout his life and taught me fortitude, stoicism and why I am grumpy in middle age. I value most the things he had no idea he was teaching me. For this reason, I have included a photograph of him on my home page.''
Peter Layzell
Born
1962
Training
1980-81 Mander College, Bedford
1981-84 Coventry (Lanchester) Polytechnic BA(Hons)
Fine Art
Selected Exhibitions and awards
2008
Artist in Residence, Atkinson Gallery, Southport
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
Short-listed for Elizabeth Garrett-Anderson
memorial, University Hospital, London
2007
Solo exhibition Portal gallery, London
2006
Lynne Painter Stainer’s award exhibition, London
Group Exhibitions Portal Gallery, London
2005
Solo Exhibition, Portal Gallery, London
2004
Group exhibitions, Portal Gallery, London
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
2003
Solo Exhibition, Portal Gallery, London
2002
Group Exhibitions Portal Gallery, London
2001
Solo Exhibition, Portal Gallery, London
Group Exhibitions Portal Gallery, London
2000
Group Exhibitions Portal Gallery, London
1999
Group Exhibitions Portal Gallery, London
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
1998
Group Exhibitions Portal Gallery, London
1997
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
1996
“England’s Glory” with James Huntington-Whiteley
Gallery, London
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
1995
Group exhibition, James Huntington-Whiteley Gallery,
London
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
1994
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
Group Exhibition James Huntington -Whiteley
Gallery, London
Art ’94, Business Design Centre, London
1993
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
Artists Around the Lune, Scott Gallery, Lancaster
University
Group Exhibition, Neill Gallery, Southport
Art ’93, Business Design Centre, London
1992
London Contemporary Art Fair, Business Design
Centre, London
Houldsworth Fine Art, London
Artistic Associations, Gillian Jason Gallery, London
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
Christmas Exhibition, Chappel Galleries, Nr
Colchester
Christmas Exhibition, Neill Gallery, Southport,
Merseyside
1991
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
Olympia Art Fair, London
Border’s Bienalle, Peebles
Various London Exhibitions with Houldsworth Fine Art
Christmas Exhibition, Chappel Galleries, Nr
Colchester
1990
Manchester Academy of Fine Arts Open Exhibition,
City Art Gallery, Manchester
Luneside Artists Studios Show, Fotheringhams
Gallery, Eccleston,Lancs
Contemporary ’90, Fotheringhams Gallery, Eccleston
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London (Prize
Winner)
Britain’s Painters 1990, Westminster Gallery London
Houldsworth Fine Art Exhibition, Old Burlington St,
London
Christmas Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
1989
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
Warrington Festival Exhibition, Warrington Museum
Gallery (Prize Winner)
Portraits North, Harrogate City Gallery, Yorkshire
Borders Art Exhibition, Tweedale Art Gallery (and
touring Scotland)
Christmas Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
1988
Luneside Artists Studios Show, Bridewell Gallery,
Liverpool
Peter Layzell – Paintings, Scott Gallery, Lancaster
University
Luneside Artists Studios ‘Five Years’ Show, Storey
Institute, Lancaster
1987
Open Christmas Exhibition, Ayling Porteous Gallery,
Chester
Gallery North, Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
1986
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
Mural Commission, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
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