Matthew PHELPS

MATTHEW PHELPS - Landscapes

Matthew has become a regular exhibitor at Highgate Fine Art. We have watched his development with interest over the last few years. We believe his is becoming a fine and gifted landscape painter who has developed a unique expression. His work has now become a blend of sympathetic tone and colour, captured in a quiet atmosphere and developed through successive layers of paint and glazes. He feels a pull towards more abstract responses and will no doubt develop this in the years ahead.

After graduating from Aberystwyth University in 1990, Phelps decided to travel widely, including a visit to India in order to extend his knowledge of art. After that, he took a scholarship in Moscow. His paintings are based upon drawings which he develops through successive layers of paint, finishing with glazes. Previously he has been in shows at the Sheringham Little Theatre and at The Green Man Gallery in Eastbourne.He is now working as Head of Art at a Norfolk Sixth Form College.

Noel Oddy and Laurie MacLaren October 2005
Copyright oddyart.com 2005

A personal statement by the artist:
“My approach to painting has changed since I followed an etching course, where I found the broader application of tone and colour on to the etching plate helped me respond more expressively to large scale paintings. I now try to capture a quiet atmosphere, which is why I often opt for a darker tonal range.
I have always had the greatest admiration for Whistler and Degas - particularly the ‘Nocturne’ series of paintings by the former artist as,due to the fact that I am head of Art at a Sixth Form College in Norfolk, I mostly paint in the evenings”
Matthew Phelps September 2003

New Landscapes 2005: "... I have painted these pictures over the past year and they reflect my continuing interest in painting landscapes. In my larger paintings I have been trying to capture a strong sense of atmosphere by continuing to use a dark tonal range and glazes to produce rich colours. I feel it is important not to get stuck into a pattern of working and have therefore worked on a variety of ways of making marks in order to create interesting effects ...." Matthew Phelps 2005