Dean Ashby

I was born in 1954 in Bedford at the ‘Wait for the Wagon’ public house now called the Blarney Stone. From an early age I was interested in art and was encouraged to develop my creativity. Over the years I have developed my skills when I was younger I focused on pencil, charcoal and Indian ink drawings. After attending Art College I became liberated from these restrictions and started experimenting using other mediums, playing with colours and texture.
Influenced by wildlife and the natural world I especially like the effects gained by using Pastel. I like to produce work that gives a surreal effect, often achieving this by using heavy shadows together with night landscapes.
I exhibit my work in the Eagle Gallery in Castle Road Bedford. I have also taken part in a number of Open Studios and Artist Network events. For the last 6 years I have had work selected for the Mall Galleries Pastel Exhibition, I won the Easel Award in 2007, together with selling my work. I have won several art prizes at the Luton Open Art Exhibition in recent years and one of my pictures (‘Legend of the Deep’) was voted by visitors as the best picture in the gallery.
At the age of sixteen I had an Owl drawing illustrated in ‘Bird Life’ an R.S.P.B magazine, and I sold my first picture at the age of Nineteen.
I ran a Bird hospital from 1979 to 1989, which took in over 500 birds in one year; this resulted in two television appearances. The injured birds and wildlife proved to be an ideal subject matter for my work.
I am presently a specialist Art and Design Teacher at Polam Oaks School in Bedford, I sell my work in Britain and Abroad through Exhibitions and the Internet.