Originally from South Yorkshire, I studied Business Management in Cardiff and Fine Art in Sheffield. I lived in the Snowdonia village of Rhyd-Ddu from 1985 until 2004, learned the Welsh language and have a close affinity with life in Wales. Although my landscape paintings and drawings are rarely specific to one recognisable place, they endeavour to express certain essential dramatic and lyrical qualities of the North Wales environment.

I have been a full-time painter since 2000 and have held numerous solo and mixed exhibitions. A regular exhibitor at Art Fairs throughout the UK, I am told that my work is vibrant, vigorous and energetic. I am currently influenced by the landscape of Clwyd, however, my most recent work reflects my interest in 'family history' – hence a series of 'figure-scapes', searching for the rhythm of land and figure, often in primordial settings.

As regards working methods; I start a work on the floor with different inks together with a number of acrylic products and complete the surface with colours within the first half-hour; throughout the day I will draw into the painting, removing surplus inks and paints as I progress to a point where the work can be raised to vertical for further drawing and oil painting.

With such a process I need to have a number of pieces to work on at the same time, for they will all be at different stages. The rhythms and gestures of the work relate to my physical and emotional relationship with the landscape in which I run or walk every day. I do not take photographs, nor draw or paint directly but simply immerse myself in the experience of 'being out there' and then develop the sensations of the experiences in the studio.

All of this and with reference to more global issues I developed in my M.A. Fine Art course at Glyndwr University where the subject of 'rhythm and gesture in relation to romanticism' was central to my studies, which I completed in the summer of 2011.

I was elected a member of the Royal Cambrian Academy in June 2016

David Brightmore