Artist: Simon de Kretser
Artist: Simon de Kretser
The Onslow Village Book Swap
One of the few benefits of the Covid constraints of 2020/21 was the fact that we walked more frequently in the area near to our house, enabling us to rediscover our surroundings and the village in which we live. This included noticing views, landscapes and buildings; one of which is the old red telephone box on the village square; converted into a book-swap.
My ink and watercolour sketch celebrates this brilliant re-use of redundant technology that is a great community asset, never more so than in a time when we are all reading so much more!
Art Medium: Ink and Watercolour
Original Painting Price: Please Contact the Artist
High quality Giclée Print: £20 inc. delivery
Commissions Invited
Contact The Artist
Simon de Kretser
Artist and Designer
Phone: 07515 393096
Please mention the Surrey Artists website
Email: simon@thebigsky.studio
Website: thebigsky.studio
Facebook: @thebigskystudio
About The Artist
My mother is an architect and art and creativity were very much part of home life as a child, so perhaps it's not surprising that I knew I wanted to be working in the creative industries from an early age.
I was helped by going to a school with an outstanding art department that encouraged creativity and basic art skills and it seemed completely logical to go on to study graphic design at the University of the Creative Arts in Epsom.
I loved my time there - this was in the days prior to the Mac and as well as the principles of design and design thinking, there was a great deal of 'craft' skill to learn; including drawing and painting, typesetting, artwork creation and much more.
Once released into the real world, I worked in a local graphics studio in Guildford before setting up a design consultancy with a friend in 1989, just as the Macintosh computer and desktop publishing were arriving in the UK.
We were convinced that this would revolutionise the graphic design profession and were one of the first studios to set up completely equipped with Macs. The 30 years that followed have been a roller-coaster ride, with highs and lows aplenty and although now much smaller than in our heyday, we continue to produce commercial graphic and communication design for companies of all sizes.
St Andrews Church, Walberswick, Suffolk En Plein Air Painting in progress - Southwold Art Circle Artist Simon de Kretser
With that in mind, I decided that I wanted to go back to my roots and have an outlet for my own creativity; something that would allow me to design and create pieces for my personal satisfaction, using both digital and traditional tools.
Currently I work primarily in ink and watercolour, but I'm also experimenting with digital art, linocut and acrylic painting, so my full portfolio is very varied, whilst I work towards finding my own style.
Art Groups
I am a member of Guildford Art Society and Southwold Art Circle.