Bruce Bignold’s pen and watercolour illustrations of buildings around Abingdon never fail to bring a smile to the faces of those who see them. His slightly quirky illustrative style captures the personality of various buildings which appeal to him when he is selecting his next subject.
Encouraged by his father, Bruce started painting and drawing as a child. “Dad taught us how to look at things and to try and draw them. Teaching children how to view things and what to capture to create a good drawing is an essential element and one which I am extremely grateful to have been shown.”
During the time, Bruce lived in London for over twenty years, he became a drummer working with various bands in the early 1980’s. However, deciding that he probably was not as good as he needed to be to make it big in music, he returned to his love of drawing, becoming a freelance illustrator in pen and watercolour. When ten years later computers took over, he thought it was time to adapt his work as an artist. “I loved working with pen and watercolours but thought it was time to switch to painting portraits. Working with oils is fun and something which I enjoy but the call of the pen and ink drawings gives a much quicker, more instantaneous final product. Hence, since I have lived back in Abingdon, I have returned to my original style of illustration.
All buildings interest me but I especially love anything which has a history to it. Unusual brickwork, rusty areas and mossy walls are what I find make great subjects. A building which has stood for two or three centuries has great character to it and I like to consider too, who may have worked and lived within its walls. Whilst I prefer to paint the whole subject in situ, with the British weather this is not always possible, so I also use photos and take sketches on site.
I have now embarked on a personal project which is to capture the remaining City of London churches which have stood the test of time. Often these were destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, some of which were rebuilt by Nicholas Hawksmoor and Christopher Wren, the architect who designed St Paul’s Cathedral in London. So far, I have sketched just shy of 30 churches with a further ten more to go.”
During 2021, Bruce teamed up with two other great local artists and held two very successful exhibitions at St Ethelwold’s House in Abingdon. If anyone is interested in buying one of Bruce’s paintings, he can be contacted via his Facebook page which is Brucebignoldart.
When Bruce is not working as an artist, he enjoys walking his poodle Charlie and keeping his garden in order too.
