Stephen Unwin

I was born in Northampton in 1945 and whilst I have always an artistic temperament it wasn’t until 1990 that I began to paint.

My training has been through a local Community College.

I have explored various techniques, not only in acrylics, which is my preferred medium but also in watercolours, oils, oil pastels and household gloss. My style is abstract and abstract expressionism and influences include Pollock and Kandinsky. I place great emphasis on the use of colour to produce vivid shapes.
I enjoy experimenting and through my “drip paintings” I can control the work to a certain extent but once the household gloss is applied using sticks rather than brushes the painting takes on a life of its own. This is all part of the excitement of this style especially as I often apply water-based acrylics to oil based paint which can give fantastic affects.

The work currently shown is taken from my “Doodle” series. Acrylic paint is applied to take out the whiteness of the canvas in such a way that the brush strokes leave random shapes and tonal changes in the paint, which I then develop using oil pastels. I enjoy this medium as I get more spontaneity from using oil pastel sticks rather than a brush

My work has been shown in a number of exhibitions, including the Eagle Gallery, the Bowen West Theatre both in Bedford and the Gallery in the Crypt of St. Martin’s in the Field, London. My first one-man exhibition was at the Central Library Bedford in June 1998 and in the past I have had a permanent exhibition for three years in a local café. Other exhibitions have been at the Art Centre in Bedford, the Museums in Bedford, Hitchin and Letchworth plus the café in “The Place” at Letchworth. My work has been sold in Austria, Germany and Belgium as well as the UK.

I am a founder member of the Eagle Gallery Artists, a co-operative of 45 Bedfordshire artists running the highly successful Eagle Gallery in Bedford, which is partly sponsored by the Eagle Bookshop.