Piers Browne has exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Show for 25 years. We feature some of his work in our Gallery this month
Piers Browne is a Wensleydale-based painter who spends a great deal of time painting Dales-scapes. ‘I really like painting dawns and dusks, capturing the light and shade, recording the moment,’ he says. His landscapes - be they oils, etchings or multimedia - give a strong sense of the places he paints and the work of the elements upon them, be they breezes through the leaves of a tree or ripples on water.
Dales-scapes are usually scenes of Wensleydale, the place he calls home and knows intimately, a spot some 1,000ft above sea level and facing directly onto Addlebrough, a flat topped hill with amazing panoramic views. He also paints locations encountered on his travels - favourites include the Yorkshire coast and the coast of Brittany. Piers has exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Show for 25 consecutive years, and this year his work his work sold out there.
He is described as an activist by some and uses his work to raise funds for causes dear to him which has included a 10-year project called The Glorious Trees of Great Britain. It involved work mainly etchings and drypoint, which culminated in a series of exhibitions as well as a book with an introduction by Prince Charles and words by David Bellamy.
The cause in this case was the Conservation Foundation, begun by David Bellamy and David Shreeve which creates and manages environmental projects.
Lately, Piers has been raising funds for Save the Children and Medecins Sans Frontieres in support of their work in Syria. ‘A doctor friend of mine is currently working out in Syria,’ says Piers. ‘There are two million refugees at the borders and the conditions are dreadful. I wanted to go out there and paint, but it wasn’t to be.’ His work can be found at the Sutcliffe Contemporary Gallery in Harrogate. n
sutcliffecontemporaryart.com
