Graham Hadlow at the White Lion Street Gallery

Graham Hadlow  predominantly paints realistic landscapes, favouring coastal scenes in between tides.
Light on land, the atmospherics of skies, sunsets and clouds, hazes of distance, water and reflections, snow and reflected light are all rendered simply, apparently easily, gently, in muted colour – the tonal values exactly representing the light source, shapes and shadows of his chosen scene. Rarely peopled, except to indicate scale, the paintings have a quiet and solid quality. There is no ulterior motive or message in painting this scene or any other, Graham deriding “the claptrap talked about art” and acknowledging “abstraction is not for him”.

Three or four colours, chosen from cobalt blue, raw sienna, burnt sienna, light red, lemon yellow and alizarin crimson, are used for each painting. He has a definite idea of what he wants to achieve and continues until he reaches his objective. Using his own photographs for reference, relocating and removing objects within them to improve composition, Graham constructs his painting. “I look, interpret and paint. I paint what I feel about what I see”. This all takes place in his small studio, meticulously arranged for ease of access to all painting and drawing media, indexed photographs, ready stretched paper, the paraphernalia of mounting and framing and his reference books.

Yorkshire born, the young Graham Hadlow attended school in Scunthorpe and lived in Crowle, a large village surrounded by flat, arable land. Home activities included drawing from a very early age, Graham learning from his father, “a very talented oil painter, especially of portraits”, tackling still lifes of household objects and plants. Winning a competition at age 12, Graham’s entries were shown on Adrian Hill’s Sketch Club TV programme. Later, taking ‘A’ level Art, Colin Smith was his teacher, “a strong influence who gave me a very good grounding in drawing particularly.” Alongside this he was learning ceramics, and woodwork with Alf Yarwood, both subjects which he continued to learn at Loughborough College of Education on the Creative Design course. Ceramics became his preferred subject.

He joined the staff of Greenhill School, Tenby, in 1970, as pottery teacher.The pottery room with kiln, one of three new art rooms, became his domain for the next 28 years. In 1986, he became Head of Art, a post he held until he 'retired' in 1998.

Graham continues to teach. Now, at art clubs and centres and other public venues, his pupils are adult learners, travelling across South Wales to watch his effortless demonstrations. He has become an enormous influence on many aspiring painters in the area. His preparation for a day workshop is thorough and students are made to feel at ease and supported in their early attempts with this trickiest of mediums. Graham believes he must show students what paint does not just tell them.