John is best known as a portraitist and master of the figure having written many award winning books on anatomy drawing and life painting as well as appearing on the BBC as part of the 'Star Portraits' series. He has been based in Falmouth with his family for the last 35 years but it is a long time since he had a one-man show there, choosing to exhibit mainly in London at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, where he is an elected member, and the Royal Society of Portrait painters. He also loves the French landscape and exhibits his work in Uzes, France as well as being a member of the New Orientalist group showing in Dubai.

Despite having lived and worked in Cornwall for so long, painting the Cornish landscape and coastline is, quite ironically, a novelty for John.

In this series of works, John has been looking straight into the light, wherever he has gone, which creates a strong contra jour effect, setting up silhouettes and strong shadows. John says, "What I look for primarily are shapes, the shapes of light and form that seduce the eye and make a subject memorable. I believe that for everyone there is a subliminal response to the pattern in an arresting view and it is these quite abstract elements that I try to discover and delineate. Sometimes this may mean ruthless selection to obliterate detail but on other occasions the detail is the pattern."

This approach has lead John to create some very strong, visually dynamic paintings. One of his favourite places to go is Porthleven, where the steep, dark harbour walls create strong silhouetted shapes against the bright light on the harbour water or in contrast to the colourful boats that sit on the mud when the tide has gone out. These are man made shapes, but John is also a very accurate observer of the shapes and patterns that occur in nature as well.

Another favourite haunt is Porthcothan, on Cornwall's north coast where there is a deep inlet created by a river running into the sea and the rocks are very black against the yellow sandy beach. John captures this brilliantly in his paintings, focusing on the carved out shapes in the sand and the patterns of light as they shift across the shimmering wet surface.

Further down the South coast at Pendower beach near Veryan, John tackles a similar subject of looking out to sea, this time head on, with the light bouncing off the surf in the distance and then on the sand in the foreground. He paints the contrasting colours of deep blue water against the yellow sand as it fills the inlets on the beach, which look like veins across the back of your hand.

At the coast near Godrevy, John paints the rich ochres and greens to be seen in the cliffs there and he manages to find shapes in the white spray of the waves as they crash against the rocks.

We can sense the freedom that painting these familiar scenes has given this artist who makes capturing them in paint look so easy. This exhibition is a chance to collect examples of a true master in the observation of light in the best tradition of Cornish painting.

Cath Wallace