A DALE artist who took part in his debut exhibition earlier this year has now launched the first of what he hopes will be a series of postcards depicting “lesser-known” street scenes of Barnard Castle.
Dave Palmer, of Startforth, has been painting since he was a child and although his dream of going to art college didn’t materialise, it hasn’t stopped him from putting brush to canvas.
Throughout his busy career in the oil industry he continued to draw and paint, but it was only when he moved to Teesdale three years ago, following his retirement that he really “got back into painting”.
He said: “I’ve got really fond memories of Barnard Castle, as I holidayed here as a child and when we moved up here I found myself being inspired to do more than dabble.”
He added: “I had a period where I just gave up painting altogether, but my wife Kathy encouraged me and I joined the Working Artists group.”
The group, which is made up of artists who also work for a living, put on their first exhibition in at The Witham in Barnard Castle in January.
Mr Palmer said: “I was really nervous, but the support and encouragement I had from everyone at Working Artists really helped and they’ve all been fantastic.”
And now Mr Palmer has launched the first of what he hopes will be a series of six postcards created from his original artwork.
The first postcard, which is on sale in the Teesdale Mercury shop and available at The Witham, depicts Horsemarket from bygone days and features figures from history including Revd John Lax, who scandalised the dale with his dalliance with a school mistress.
Mr Palmer added: “I studied a lot of historical photographs to make sure I got the detailing right, but there is an element of artistic licence in the painting.”
He added he is already hard at work on his next painting and said: “There will be nuances of all the major landmarks in Barnard Castle, but just a hint, I wanted to concentrate on other aspects of the town that don’t normally get featured.”
