Monthly Meetings

Award-winning wildlife artist Peter Gray visited the society on Thursday evening to speak about his art and in particular, collaborations. Peter
took the members on an art journey through his life. Peter was introduced to art when his father taught him to engrave copper plate and seals
(not the sea life but the now almost lost art of engraving a relief that will transfer into wax to make a seal) because, as Peter jokingly remarked,
he had no hope for his son’s academic success.
Born in Zimbabwe and with a passion for wildlife, in particular birds, Peter sold his first artwork at 12 years old. He then finished his schooling in
fine arts and furthered his studies in jewellery design and engraving. He told us one of his important lessons as an artist happened while he
was a young child in his father’s workshop. A man, let’s call him Harry, came in wanting a quick engraving done on his ring. Ten minutes later, the ring had a superb engraving done.
Harry was over the moon, until it came to pricing. Harry felt the price of was too high. To this, Peter’s father then took the ring, filed off his engraving, and offered Harry the opportunity to engrave it himself. Harry left very unhappy, and maybe a little upset. Peter’s father then asked Peter, “How long did it take me to do that engraving?” “About ten minutes,” was Peter’s response. “No,” replied his father, “actually it took me
thirty years of experience and skill to produce that in ten minutes.” Pricing, therefore, says Peter, is not always about comparing art to what looks similar, but about the collaboration, effort, and journey to produce that artwork.
Collaboration between artists is a themes that drive Peter. An example of this is his initiative to create an artwork in collaboration with SASA to celebrate Sir David Attenborough’s 100th birthday on the 8th of May. The concept is an image of David surrounded by birds of various sizes, drawn by the SASA members and Peter.
Peter is a wildlife painter, and his love for birds and animals really comes through in his artwork. His painting of King took approximately three weeks to complete, but Peter advised that he was not working on one painting alone, but had a few projects on the go. This helped to keep him inspired, as he would return to each artwork fresh and not become drained. Taking commissions is also a form of collaboration between the artist and the client. Peter told an anecdote of a family portrait, father, mother and three boys, he was asked to paint. Peter spent some time with the family to get to know their characters, especially the three boys. Although Peter also paints exquisite portraits, he ended up painting this family as a family of lions, subtly and expertly portraying the characters of each person in the posture of the cats. His bravery paid off, with the client recognising himself, his wife and children in a beautifully painted portrait of lions.
On Thursday, we got to see a slideshow of Peter’s work, but you can view more –Portfolio 4 Columns Peter Gray. When viewing these works, keep in mind that Peter works on the main character first before proceeding to the background. The subject is the inspiration, and working on
that keeps him inspired for longer. He recommends you don’t use inexpensive materials as this may yield an inferior result, although he may not always follow his own advice. He avoids varnishing his artwork as it hinders any later adjustments. Peter also encourages us not to keep our work to ourselves, but to market it. Social media is one platform and, of course, SASA’s exhibitions is another. As artists, we communicate a our own messages and emotion through our art.