Artist given exciting opportunity to exhibit in local pub restaurant

Garry Ravenhall is a retired art teacher who used to be Head of Art at a school near Ipswich, Suffolk.

Coventry-born Garry, 60, felt the pull of the Midlands and headed for Lincolnshire when he gave up his 32-year teaching career in 2018.

He staged an exhibition of local landscapes in the Carre Gallery in Sleaford in 2019, called ‘Sleaford Discovered’, but he says he was out walking his dog when a woman from the Brass Windmill pub restaurant in Helpringham asked if he wished to display some of his pictures.

Garry said: “I have now got 25 paintings in the restaurant and bar area, to help me promote my art work. I hope people like them.

"Usually as an artist you pay for a gallery space for three or four weeks or show them in a church or community setting at a craft fair which is not ideal. To get a permanent public exhibition is unheard of.”

The paintings on show are images of the local Sleaford area and also ‘still life’ using a mixture of acrylics and oils, as well as a few watercolours. They are tagged with prices and QR codes to his website and biographical information about himself.

"I have never heard of any artist anywhere being afforded such an amazing opportunity. I am thrilled,” said Garry, who has also been keeping busy running his own handyman business .

"You don’t paint to make lots of money, you paint because you want people to see them, but they were just sitting in a pile in my studio. The wonderful thing is people can have a meal and sit and enjoy my paintings.”

Garry also does commissions, painting portraits of dogs and homes, but in his exhibition of local landscapes he picked out shadows, reflections and the movement of leaves, finding the picturesque in overlooked areas and drawing attention to such views as the rain-soaked car park of Sainsbury’s supermarket, and the lights beaming down on Sleaford level crossing. Meanwhile, in the pandemic lockdown, he turned to still life painting of bowls of fruit and other objects to hand.

More of his work can be found at www.garryravenhall.co.uk.