Lesley Dolphin, presenter of the popular programme "All About Suffolk", which is on BBC Radio Suffolk on weekday afternoons, invited me to be her guest on the sofa on Friday 28th October, to talk about my life and particularly my return to painting and where photography fitted into my life story. Leslie, a very experienced presenter, quickly put me at ease and wanted to start at the very beginning, from my early memories of Coventry in the blitz, through art college, service life in the RAF, the early paintings of sporting personalities - see them at http://www.rogerharveyart.co.uk/ and how the use of the camera was a tool in the production of the paintings. Lesley was fascinated by the fact that, by doing a lot of photographs of a sporting personality, an 'action print', as I call it, emerges that reinforces the likeness. As an example, George Best, when running with the ball, tucked his thumbs into his clenched fists. This attention to detail always made the sporting paintings that little bit special and is also applicable, when painting traditional portraits. People today are so busy that they don't have time to sit for a portrait and therefore I photograph a subject and build up the portrait from the photographs just as the old masters did with camera obscura.
She then wanted to know why we had moved to Suffolk and why I was now painting primarily Suffolk landscapes and seascapes and she loved the paintings and the big Suffolk skies.
We had such fun that the forty-five minute interview flew by - at one point, Lesley nearly missed the break for the news! She gave me the opportunity to promote my work and my exhibitions and she mentioned the new website several times and suggested that people should have a look, which has really helped the ratings. Watch this space as I am being invited to do another session in the New Year.
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