The Three of Us, an exhibition of paintings by artists, David Jones, Jane Mackintosh and Barry Watkins, is at Wymondham Arts Centre (NR18 0PH) from Tuesday, June 13 to Sunday June 25; open 10am to 5pm, Monday to Friday and 12noon to 5pm on Sundays.

David, Jane and Barry are all longstanding members of Norwich 20 Group, one of the premier artists’ groups in the region and all have served as N20G’s Chairman. It is the second time that the artists have collaborated over an exhibition at Wymondham Arts Centre, following their successful 2015 show.   

David Jones said: “We are figurative painters, but we have different personal approaches. In this exhibition visitors will see paintings in what might be called widely differing keys and ways of handling paint. What unites us is that we all see drawing as the foundation on which our work is built. Subjects are drawn from travel, history and things closer to home; sometimes no further away than the artist’s studio.”

David Jones

Much of David’s work is about history. What interests him is how we can see evidence of the past all around us. Where the subject of a painting is a contemporary scene he include some reference to the past. The painting may include an old building in the background. If the subject is of an historic building then he makes reference somewhere to contemporary life. David likes to include cars and street furniture to put the old building in its contemporary setting.

David Jones added: “The paintings that I will be showing will be different from those shown at the last joint exhibition in 2015. Whilst the paintings won’t be abstract, there will be a strong abstract or design element in their composition. The colour will be more vivid and the handling more deliberate. Nevertheless those familiar with my work will see evidence of my long-term preoccupations with historic buildings and people in public places.

Jane Mackintosh

“I was born in Edinburgh but grew up in Oxford. My mother was a fine painter in the colourist tradition. She came from Orkney and we went north nearly every summer. The colour and light there are wonderful, and have greatly influenced my work, which comes from love of place and light, often in relation to human activity.”

Jane studied at the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford and the Byham Shaw School in London, married and came to Norfolk in the early 1960’s with husband Peter who taught at the Norwich School. 

Jane said: “We liked it here. I found it beautiful, and was fortunate to meet other artists who encouraged me. We had two sons and I taught part-time at Norwich School of Art, Wensum Lodge and in a psychiatric hospital in Great Yarmouth. In the early 1970’s we spent a year in the Bay Area of California, which increased my interest in the urban environment and the impact it has on nature.”

Barry Watkins

Barry Watkins explained his work: “To make a painting is to engage in a conversation. The handling of materials and techniques produces marks – overlaying wet or dry, thick or thin, building up and cutting back. These marks may incidentally evoke, or intentionally depict, an image – something seen, imagined or remembered. Then a balance has to be sought between the demands of the figurative image and the non-figurative painterly concerns for the language of form, tone, colour, texture…”

“The images will strike some personal resonance but they also have their own back stories – who is the girl on the beach/Greek goddess? How did the horses of Marcus Aurelius get from Rome, via Constantinople, to Venice where we now see only copies? So the painting adds another chapter, but in viewing the painting the observer brings yet another layer to the story – perhaps memories of swimming girls or prancing horses.”

“And so the dialogue continues.”

Wymondham Arts Centre is at Becket’s Chapel, Church Street, Wymondham NR18 0PH, www.wymondhamarts.org.

Norwich 20 Group www.norwich20group.co.uk