For his new show, Gerald has painted beautiful and unsettling portraits of trees, in their natural environment!
They stand before us covered with blossom, shaped by wind or age. Gnarled and twisted, covered with moss, lichen and ferns. These trees, residents of the remnants of our temperate rainforest have a story to tell. They are full of character. They certainly have attitude.
The work is always detailed and precise, his subjects vividly real, meticulously observed and faithfully rendered. Yet there is so much more here. There is something rarefied, otherworldly. The trees' arms teach out, beckoning. They confer and conspire, offering protection and captivity. Menace and welcome. Sunlight is diffused through mist and moisture, and the world of the forest closes in around us.
Gerald shows us a forest that is watching, waiting for us. Quiet, lonely, ancient. Benign, or reproachful perhaps. Preparing silently…
Through decades of observation and a strong commitment to conservation and the environment, Gerald has come to know the ways of the forest; the way these rare landscapes work and sustain us. The ways we are changing and degrading them. Risking our own future.
Gerald was born in 1957 and trained at Falmouth Art School where he met Kim. They lived in North Wales for 30 years before moving to Pembrokeshire last year. Gerald's work appears in many public and private collections. He has been exhibiting with us since 2013