Philip Lyons
I use subtle colour and strong pattern in my compositions – locking them together to make a firm structure. I pay attention to the surface of the paintings to create areas that have a sense of history (telling a story). There are accents of strong colour to anchor the composition. I look for modest, everyday events and views, such as looking out from a window, light passing over a field, a glimpse of the sea over a hedge and shadows of trees stretching across a field. I often use a grid structure to start a painting, sometimes remaining visible, sometimes hidden in the background and I return to places I know well, to look for natural frameworks and grids, such as windows, doorways, shadows and shapes of objects in rooms. I have lived and exhibited my paintings in Cornwall since 1989.
Philip Lyons was born in Ipplepen, Devon in 1955 He studied art at Torquay and then gained a Fine Art degree at Bristol College of Art and Design in 1978. Upon graduating he worked for Phillips Fine Art Auctioneers in London and then Plymouth Museum and Art Gallery. He trained in Art Psychotherapy at Goldsmiths College, London before living in Cornwall from 1989, painting and exhibiting and working as an Art Psychotherapist for the NHS. In 2013, he moved to Falmouth and began to paint full time. Public Collections Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro, Cornwall Falmouth Art Gallery, Falmouth, Cornwall Devon County Council’s art collection