The Richmond Magazine

Covering Richmond Upon Thames and surrounding areas

Event: -	Chris Forsey: Downland
Date: -	06 March 2010 to 27 March 2010
Time: -	10am - 4.45pm
Location: -	Guildford House Gallery, 155 High Street, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 3AJ map
Price: -	Free
Website: -	http://www.guildfordhouse.co.uk
Email: -	guildfordhouse@guildford.gov.uk
Telephone: -	01483 444741
Guildford House Gallery is pleased to welcome local artist Chris Forsey from Saturday 6 March to Saturday 27 March 2010, with an exhibition of scenic paintings inspired by the ‘landscape on his doorstep’ - the Downs. Chris, who has been a professional painter for 12 years following a career as an illustrator, claims his affection for the Downs began whilst attending a field trip to Mickleham near Dorking as an A Level Geography student in the late 1960s. He returned to live in Dorking in the early 1980s and has used the Downs as a source of inspiration for his landscape painting ever since. Chris enjoys regular walks along the Downs between Reigate and Guildford, and they have provided him with an abundance of sketching opportunities. His deep appreciation and enjoyment of the uninterrupted views along the steep slopes, the gentle but dramatic downland scarp, hidden valleys, and yew tree lined paths have inspired the work in this exhibition. Chris has endeavoured to capture the atmospheric moods, changing seasons, weather and time of day on this beautiful landscape. Using a combination of acrylic, mixed media and watercolour, Chris uses unusual tools and techniques to produce textures of broken and glazed layers in his loose, representational paintings. Often working on two or three paintings at once, he seeks to exploit the serendipitous and create exciting, spontaneous work. Chris belongs to The Dorking group of Artists. He exhibits widely across the UK, regularly showing at prestigious London exhibitions and has won prizes for his work with the Royal institute of Painters in Watercolour (RI), and Society of Graphic Fine Artists (SGFA), Denbies Bacchus painting award 2009 and Runner-up in the Surrey Artists “Baines Award” 2009.