About

Former County Architect for Gwent in South Wales, David Haswell began painting in 1997, following his retirement from local government.

His intention is to create highly textured images of the UK National Parks, presented with drama, contrast and bordering on the semi abstract.

Though self-taught I believe that my approach has been largely influenced by my interest in the work of three Welsh painters: Kyffin Williams, John Blockley and John Knapp-Fisher. All three included in their work simple farming structures, dramatic skies and a limited colour palette.

The Black Mountains, the source of my inspiration, offer an excellent blend of buildings and landscape – old farms, chapels, valleys, ridge walks etc operating at the small scale, within the larger setting of the Brecon Beacons which bring waterfalls, the canal and some significant mountain peaks.

The intention is to create highly textured images of the Welsh landscape presented with contrast and bordering on the semi-abstract. The effect is achieved through a combination of textural work in acrylics, applied with a palette knife and overlays of deeply saturated pure watercolours from Italy.