Born in 1959 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, the artist Potter showed creative ability and exceptional drawing skills from a very young age. This even resulted in being excused from assembly when potter was just six years old, in order to draw for his teachers jungle project. This stemmed from Potter receiving the ‘jungle book’ by a neighbour and for an extensive period there after he would copy the beautifully intricate illustrations that filled the books pages.
In secondary school Potter was the only pupil to take an A level in art and this enabled special attention on a one on one basis with his art tutor, to whom he is still in contact with today. The first painting he sold was for just ten pounds to his head mistress and secondary school.
Art in his strict secondary school wasn’t hugely encouraged and therefore instead of continuing on his artistic path to art school, Potter was directed to attend University in Leicester reading archaeology. Art was still at the forefront of Potter’s mind, although the university life style came into play and for a while his spare time did not consist of artistic practice.
At the end of his university studies, Potter, not fully committed, embarked on a P.G.C.E course and this led him to chesterfield to teach. His heart wasn’t fully in it and this then led to a job as an Educational Publishing Rep. During this period, Potter and his wife moved to the countryside of Leicestershire and it was during this period he often visited other beautiful countryside’s, allowing him to explore the natural beauty of these places and in turn his paintings took on a fresh and innovative new direction. It was at these stage he now exhibited at various galleries. Although by this point Potter had illustrated a few cookery and children’s book, he became frustrated that he was not able to paint in a loose and expressive style in watercolours.
The death of his father in 1988 made Potter realize the need and urge to push himself and do something more with his life, his frustration saw the divorce between himself and his wife and Potter had moved back to Derbyshire, purchased a cottage and dedicated a room to as an art studio.
It was when meeting his new Partner that Potter managed to sell his paintings and cards through her company to outlets around Derbyshire. His first solo exhibition was Treeline Gallery where he sold some of his paintings and had a successful exhibition. Come 2003 Potter and his partner had opened their own gallery in Derbyshire called Charisma and it was here that Potter continued to sell his paintings and cards in his own gallery. This then gave Potter the confidence to approach other such galleries with his works.
Inspirations stem from landscapes and the great open space, this idea is painted from Potter’s garden studio. The process involved is to paint whilst listening to music or books on tape and this keeps Potter stimulated to continue his practice for hours on end. The process occurs by sketching out his composition in his book and then Potter decides on the mood of the colour and paints in acrylics as the process of oil takes much longer to dry. Texture too plays an important part in Potter’s practice and this can be seen from the application of implements used such as knives, fillers, gesso and crackle glaze.
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