Cat Number: RB4
Title: Canoeists - Mullion Cove (featured in A Picture of Cornwall, Page 118)
Price: £800
Size: 11 x 12 in
Medium: Mixed media

RAY BALKWILL SWAc is a well-known West Country artist whose watercolours, pastels and oils are much sought after.  Born in Exeter in 1948, he graduated from Exeter College of Art, thereafter making a career in advertising as an Art Director.

In 1990 demand for his paintings led him to give up his job to become a professional artist. He has held numerous successful solo exhibitions, as well as showing in group and open exhibitions including the R.I., R.W.A. and the South West Academy. His paintings can be found in private collections and galleries all over the country as well as abroad. In 2006 he was elected an Academician in the South West Academy of Fine and Applied Arts and he has been a member of the St. Ives Society of Artists since 1999.

He also runs painting holidays and is a regular contributor to The Artist magazine. He is author of six art books: Watercolour Plus, Learn to Paint Coastal Landscapes, Painting Landscapes with Atmosphere, Ray Balkwill’s Exe Estuary, A Picture of Devon and A Picture of Cornwall. His work also features in a number of other books and magazines.

He is a strong advocate of painting en plein air and his main objective is to capture the mood and ‘spirit’ of a place. Living as he does on the coast, it is little wonder that the wide-open spaces of sea, estuary and sky have been the main spring of his art.