Andy Cross, Featured Artist for September 2020

Andy attended Glasgow School of Art as a mature student and graduated in Jewellery and Silversmithing in 1975, after which he began teaching Art and Design in schools in Lanarkshire and Glasgow. Andy has been exhibiting his work in solo shows and public exhibitions since 1990, and his work has been accepted for exhibitions held by the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolour (RSW), the Royal Glasgow Institute (RGI), the Scottish Society of Artists (SSA) and the Paisley Art Institute (PAI). Andy Cross was elected as an artist member of The Glasgow Art Club in September 2019.

Andy has works in the collection of the Royal Bank of Scotland, The Atholl Trust, the East Kilbride Development Corporation, Baring’s International Group and in various private collections.

ARTIST’S  STATEMENT

During my teaching career I continued to make jewellery on commission for several years. Then, in 1985 I decided to concentrate on painting and since my early retirement in 2002 I have had more time to devote to painting my favourite subjects of Landscape and Still Life.

Most of my inspiration comes from the surrounding countryside of my home in South Lanarkshire and from my frequent visits to France.

In my Landscape paintings I am more interested in creating an atmosphere rather than a photographic image. This can be either the damp dreich Scottish weather to the sunlit paintings of Provence.

My most recent Still Life painting has emphasis on colour, texture and the simplification of shapes and space.  This has led me to flattening some of the elements to the picture plane rather than conveying three dimensional objects.

It is also important to me that I keep the application of the paint as fresh looking as possible with the brush marks and scrapings still evident in the finished work.

How I can apply all of this to the textures and shapes of landscapes is still an ongoing process.