Duncan Palmer
Accomplished Surrey-based artist Duncan Palmer was born and bred in Hampshire, and is admired for his trademark use of fine oil and watercolours as an artistic medium. Over the years he has enjoyed sell out solo exhibitions, as well as gaining additional exposure for his work by participating in shared exhibitions with other members of the Royal Watercolour Society. Palmar took his initial steps as a painter as a 19 year old in 1983, putting on his first exhibition that very same year; although he turned his back on his chosen specialism to instead study architecture in London. This distraction was short lived though, as Palmar reversed his decision to pursue an architectural career, and opted to return to his first love a handful of years later. This wasn’t the whole story though, as explained in more detail below.
With a passion for painting stemming from his schooldays, an enterprisingly teenage Palmar aimed to fund his driving lessons by attempting to sell pictures of people’s houses that he had painted, relying on the kindness of home-owners impressed by his fledgling talents with a brush. This plan proved fruitful, with the sale of a number of pictures, and it wasn’t long before he won himself a place on a Graphic Design course at college to further his dream. Palmar’s original dream was to simply paint for living, however his parents insisted that he couldn’t make ends meet painting and urged him to study Graphics. That was until the summer before he was due to start on his course, when, as he sat outside someone’s house, painting, he was approached by a lady who told him that she herself, painted.
With the offer of her conservatory as a studio and a crash course in the application of oil and watercolour and the pivotal role that colour, tone, composition and source of light would have on his art, Palmar gained invaluable skills that summer and headed off to college. Lasting one day on his Graphic Design course, and having been heavily influenced by his brush with an actual artist, he pleaded with his parents to let him focus on his painting. Agreeing to this on the acceptance he had 12 months to make a go of it, within that first year, and aged just 19, Palmar held his first one-man exhibition in a local gallery. Adjudged a success, the exhibition provided commissions being taken on a variety of subject matter, aside from the inevitable houses.
Palmar draws his inspiration from the acknowledged Newlyn School of Artists who practiced their distinctive arts during the last century and who were very much at the crux of a decidedly Cornish movement. Architectural, landscape, seascape, estuaries, harbour and beach scenes form the nucleus of Palmar’s body of work to date and are discovered at the forefront of Palmar’s artistic philosophies, illustrated by a sensitive adaptation of texture and light and the interplays that were so indicative of the Newlyn scene.
Palmar has of late chosen to explore the part that movement, rhythm and fluidity play in how the sea itself is depicted, and how its representation might engage the viewer. Attracting the attentions of collectors who take interest in fine oil and watercolours, Palmar has evolved from his more traditional approach to surfaces and has been experimenting with oils on gesso board in relation to his recent beach scenes. His mix of watercolours now incorporate texture, granulation, iridescent and gum Arabic mediums to garner more realistic effects when it comes to capturing the essence of seaweed, wet sand or mud found on a harbour wall for example.
Palmar’s reputation within watercolour painting circles was instrumental in the AA (Automobile Association) having commissioned his works for the past decade, so as to capture their Award Winning Hotels of the Year on canvas, whilst he’s also known for his works commissioned by the services too. Further to this, Palmar’s ‘Booby’s and The Bull’ painting was selected by Country Life magazine for their front cover in March 2008, which again introduced him to a whole new audience.
He’s also been commissioned to undertake three military painting and a millennium-celebrating study that resulted in him being hoisted up in a cherry picker to benefit from an aerial view of his home village. On another similar occasion, Palmar took to the skies in a helicopter, at the request of another commisionee, to capture another elevated shot of a single parish from above, adding that they kindly removed the helicopter door so as not to obscure his view.
With a passion for painting stemming from his schooldays, an enterprisingly teenage Palmar aimed to fund his driving lessons by attempting to sell pictures of people’s houses that he had painted, relying on the kindness of home-owners impressed by his fledgling talents with a brush. This plan proved fruitful, with the sale of a number of pictures, and it wasn’t long before he won himself a place on a Graphic Design course at college to further his dream. Palmar’s original dream was to simply paint for living, however his parents insisted that he couldn’t make ends meet painting and urged him to study Graphics. That was until the summer before he was due to start on his course, when, as he sat outside someone’s house, painting, he was approached by a lady who told him that she herself, painted.
With the offer of her conservatory as a studio and a crash course in the application of oil and watercolour and the pivotal role that colour, tone, composition and source of light would have on his art, Palmar gained invaluable skills that summer and headed off to college. Lasting one day on his Graphic Design course, and having been heavily influenced by his brush with an actual artist, he pleaded with his parents to let him focus on his painting. Agreeing to this on the acceptance he had 12 months to make a go of it, within that first year, and aged just 19, Palmar held his first one-man exhibition in a local gallery. Adjudged a success, the exhibition provided commissions being taken on a variety of subject matter, aside from the inevitable houses.
Palmar draws his inspiration from the acknowledged Newlyn School of Artists who practiced their distinctive arts during the last century and who were very much at the crux of a decidedly Cornish movement. Architectural, landscape, seascape, estuaries, harbour and beach scenes form the nucleus of Palmar’s body of work to date and are discovered at the forefront of Palmar’s artistic philosophies, illustrated by a sensitive adaptation of texture and light and the interplays that were so indicative of the Newlyn scene.
Palmar has of late chosen to explore the part that movement, rhythm and fluidity play in how the sea itself is depicted, and how its representation might engage the viewer. Attracting the attentions of collectors who take interest in fine oil and watercolours, Palmar has evolved from his more traditional approach to surfaces and has been experimenting with oils on gesso board in relation to his recent beach scenes. His mix of watercolours now incorporate texture, granulation, iridescent and gum Arabic mediums to garner more realistic effects when it comes to capturing the essence of seaweed, wet sand or mud found on a harbour wall for example.
Palmar’s reputation within watercolour painting circles was instrumental in the AA (Automobile Association) having commissioned his works for the past decade, so as to capture their Award Winning Hotels of the Year on canvas, whilst he’s also known for his works commissioned by the services too. Further to this, Palmar’s ‘Booby’s and The Bull’ painting was selected by Country Life magazine for their front cover in March 2008, which again introduced him to a whole new audience.
He’s also been commissioned to undertake three military painting and a millennium-celebrating study that resulted in him being hoisted up in a cherry picker to benefit from an aerial view of his home village. On another similar occasion, Palmar took to the skies in a helicopter, at the request of another commisionee, to capture another elevated shot of a single parish from above, adding that they kindly removed the helicopter door so as not to obscure his view.