Stephen Stokes, who has lived in Penarth for around 25 years after previously living in Canton, has always painted alongside his career running a handmade kitchen business that began in the town before moving to Bessemer Road in Cardiff.
He studied at art college in Liverpool in the 1980s and has continued to paint ever since, working mainly from life rather than photographs.
“I’ve always painted,” he said. “I went to art college in the 80s in Liverpool and I’ve just carried on painting all my life, and now I’m retired I thought it would be a good time to have an exhibition.”
His debut exhibition is being held at Llanover Hall Arts Centre in Cardiff, where he has been a regular at life drawing sessions since moving to the city in 1990.
He approached tutor John at the hall to ask if he could exhibit and says he was delighted by the response, with about 80 people attending the opening and giving positive feedback on his work.
“I never expected so many of them to want to buy my paintings. I didn’t think it would be this successful, I didn’t put a price on them .”
The exhibition brings together paintings created over many decades, from his earliest pieces to portraits and still lifes completed only a few months ago.
Stephen describes himself as a figurative painter strongly influenced by artists such as Matisse, Van Gogh and Monet, and by the period of painting before the Second World War.
He says he is more interested in colour and atmosphere than abstraction, and that visitors told him they could see the tradition of painting and his influences in his work without it being pastiche.
He chose to include portraits painted 30 or 40 years apart to show the span of his practice, as well as still life and scenes that hold personal meaning.
He says his paintings are not created with the commercial gallery market in mind, but he has already been contacted by people interested in buying pieces and is now facing the challenge of how to price his work.
The exhibition due to finish this Friday, Stephen says he is simply pleased to have finally shared his work publicly and hopes to keep painting in his large studio space at his workshop.
He is already looking ahead to future shows, with Stephen expected to exhibit in Penarth soon.
