WESTBOURNE

JOHN BAMPFIELD

John was born in Kidderminster in the West Midlands, 1947.

When it dawned on him that he did have a choice in later life, nineteen to be precise, he moved to London. For John, it was the wrong choice at that time and he moved very quickly again, to Cornwall.

This is where John has lived ever since... for 47 years.

Cornwall has a history of inspiring people to make art and it’s easy to see why. It’s a fabulous place. But it’s a difficult place to make a living. Hence, John began to paint, with a view to maybe selling his paintings.

With no formal art training, other than school he had to work hard at studying informally between painting and doing part time work in hotels. This, and painting on a daily basis led to him being able to make a living by painting.

Over the years John’s style has changed, as he has changed, and his subjects have varied from street scenes to beach scenes and much of the in-between. John loves life, which he looks at as the most remarkable thing about our planet and he tries to convey his sense of wonder, joy, sadness and all the other emotions experienced in living, in his work, which is visually inspired by what he has seen around him.

John admires and has been influenced by the work of far too many artists to list them all, but The Impressionists, and Turner in particular remain constant sources of inspiration and study for him.