Atkins Gallery Annual Open Exhibition 2018 Portrait

Neil is a professional artist, a former long term resident of Hinckley.
Specialising in oils, he offers bespoke, affordable commissions in a wide range of subjects including still life, landscapes, seascapes, action studies, abstract creations and more recently animal and pet portraits.
Neil’s work is available as original art and in top quality giclee fine art prints and greeting cards. If you are interested in learning more about the products and services that Neil can provide then please contact him using the following details:
Web: www.neilpriorartist.com
Email: neilnap773@aol.com
Facebook: Neil Prior Artist
Tel: 07739182220

Natalie Browne "This painting represents a pivotal moment for me as it heralds my transition from using acrylics to oil paints. Regarding this portrait as an experiment of sorts, I greatly enjoyed exploring my new medium and particularly relished the bold application of colour and texture.
There’s something aesthetically captivating about the comic book character Harley Quinn, particularly in her Suicide Squad incarnation. I like the stark contrasts in the attitude, behaviour and appearance of this bubble gum super-villain, which was interesting to try and convey in paint. I aimed to capture the childlike innocence of those large eyes and mismatched pigtails with the pugnacious larger than life personality to bring to life this effervescent candyfloss anti-hero.
She’s also significant because we named our beloved dog after her!"

Member of the Albert Street Artists in Loughborough www.stephenfox-art-collections.com

Keith Blower "Ambitious politicians strive with all their energy to succeed and get to the top but on achieving success far from gaining happiness their life seems to become a nightmare, crushed by the responsibilities of office. Science fiction writers have suggested anyone foolish enough to want high office should be debarred on the grounds of insanity. Leaders would instead be selected by lottery, the winner or loser becoming president for a year. The pains of leadership I thought would make a good subject for three portraits of female leaders."

Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni , having burnt London to the ground is about to march up the A5 to meet her Waterloo thought to be at Mancetter according to the historian Michael Wood.

David Kingston "I enjoy observing people, how we go about our lives and the way we exist in our world - the ironic, the sad, and the humorous. I am interested in the candid nature in which images are captured in street photography. I use photography to capture moments I feel express my take on the world. The 'blank canvas' - the not knowing what I might find, is an excitement that motivates me. Although I am photographing the 'real' world, the chance happenings I present in my pictures are unfinished stories, moments with potential and unresolved dramas. The very act of making them into an image is simultaneously adding to and taking away from the subject, thereby creating a new reality".

David Kingston "I use editing software only to a minimum, without interfering with the essence and impact of the original scene.
I am influenced by some of the great street photographers such as Henri Cartier Bresson, Robert Frank and Martin Parr, as well as other artists, in particular the painter Edward Hopper."

Joseph Aloysius Hansom was an architect originally from York but moved to Hinckley with his family in 1834 to start again following
financial difficulties. On the 23 December 1834 Hansom registered his designs at the National Patent Office for a “safety cab”. This was the first version of the Hansom Cab. Hansom used local labour to build his prototype from a workshop in Regent Street. The prototype featured wheels with a diameter of 8ft or 2.4m and offered passengers stability and privacy with its enclosed sheltered seating. This version of the Hansom Cab was recorded to have been driven along Coventry Road and Watling Street in 1835.

There are two blue plaques in Hinckley dedicated to Hansom, one is in the Borough on NatWest Bank and the second is on the Edwards Centre parade of shops on Regent Street.

'Harris Tweed' means tweed made from pure wool produced in Scotland, spun, dyed and finished in the Outer Hebrides and hand-woven by the islanders at their own homes on the islands of Lewis, Harris, Uist and Barra – all known as the Outer Hebrides.
This hand-stitched portrait of a lady in produced using Harris Tweed and is named after the beautiful Scottish island of Isla – the southern most island of the Inner Hebrides.

The reference photograph is by Heather Ward. Victor, who weighs in at 480kg (1058lbs), having retired from a breeding programme after fathering ten cubs, is the first polar bear to live in England for about a decade. He was born in captivity in Rostock, Germany, before moving to Rhenen in the Netherlands and is now In Yorkshire. Victor is a father to most of Europe's polar bears, now living in a 10-acre enclosure which has the environment of an Arctic summer.

Pam Hyams "This is about me in my "Hippier" days when life was about wandering the hills in Scotland slightly more carefree than currently!"

HBBC Bass Miniature Collection. There are 18 Miniatures in this collection, some of which are believed to have been painted by William Bass (1757-1781), William Bass (1785-1864) and Thomas Bass. Other pieces in the collection were owned by either of the two William Bass’s. The exact details of these pieces are unknown.