Petleys

Throughout his distinguished career, Forster has carved a niche as an animal and figurative artist, and his work appears in collections across the world, including that of the Prince of Wales, whom he also has painted twice. For many years he steered away from exhibiting in London, but four years ago he met Roy Petley at his home near Bergerac on the Dordogne. The two of them hit it off and Petley went to Forster’s studio in Wiltshire where he saw, as he says ‘drawings everywhere’. After a little persuasion, a number of these were exhibited at the Petley Gallery in Monaco and then last year further work was shown in Cork Street. This will be Forster’s second show in London with us.

Forster now works almost exclusively in pastels, enjoying the immediacy and freshness of this medium. All the pieces on display are testament to his skill as a draughtsman and maintain a luminosity lost in less skilful artists. But his works are more than academic studies. They convey character. His animal pastels, for instance, display personality - from the proud and poignant hounds to the tabby, twitching its ears to listen.

He is passionate about drawing. It is, he believes, the foundation of a work of art and he has been drawing longer than most artists. He started at the age of three and now some 60 odd years later, when he isn’t umpiring or worrying about our chances in the Ashes, he is still at work.

A selection of works can be found here on our website:
http://www.petleys.co.uk/works.html