Decades of practice enable watercolour master David Taylor to capture the fleeting moment.
By Marian Quigley
RENOWNED watercolour artist David Taylor, now a resident of Phillip Island, left Caulfield Technical School at the age of 15 to begin a six-year apprenticeship in colour etching at the North Melbourne Printing School of Graphic Arts. This provided him with invaluable training in the use of colour and a solid background for his future career as a professional painter.
Beginning as a weekend painter, initially using oils and proofing inks, David managed to sell quite a lot of his early work. His study of artists such as Harold Herbert, Hans Heysen and John Loxton led to his lifelong passion for watercolour, an instant, “expressive medium in reflecting atmosphere and light in a fluid and poetic way”.
Nature was his inspiration. As a young man, he would regularly venture out in his FE Holden to paint en plein air.
“I have found nature a great teacher over some 50 years,” David says. “Lessons are learnt from painting light in its many ways from early morning to late in the day and seeing and witnessing how quickly the moment will change …
“I feel we learn so much by being with nature, feeling the sun on our backs and wind in our face and then seeing it permanently captured – that ever-so-brief moment captured forever. This is my passion and love.”
Capturing that moment requires practising regularly to paint rapidly. He begins by working on a smaller scale outdoors. These works can then translate into larger works in the studio. David refuses to exhibit any painting that he is not happy with. His work is renowned for its “highly and methodically constructed, architecturally sound, designs and compositions recorded en plein air … in sensuously toned washes and cloaks of colour paying great reverence to the actual nuances of light perceived on the day”.
Eight of David’s paintings feature in the Twenty Melbourne Painters Society’s forthcoming annual exhibition, its 99th, at the Glen Eira City Council Art Gallery in Caulfield.
The Society’s aesthetic is “firmly grounded in the disciplines of depictive realist painting, motivated and inspired by its founding members back in 1918”. David was invited to become a member more than 25 years ago.
His first connection began much earlier when one of its members, Sir William Dargie, awarded him a Highly Commended for his watercolour Back Road to Templestowe (c.1968) which he sold for approximately $45 to a graphic designer.
Having committed himself to becoming a professional artist, he first sought professional training from Ray Horsfield, who told David there was nothing more he could teach him. In the late 1960s, David attended lessons in oil painting with Ian Armstrong, a well-known teacher from the National Gallery Art School who painted portraits and still lifes.
As the first recipient of a three-month study grant from Camberwell Rotary, David studied art overseas and brought back six paintings, including one of the Duomo in Florence. He was then asked to teach – something he has continued to do ever since. He takes great pleasure in seeing his former students, such as Amanda Hyatt and Malcolm Beatty, become successful artists in their own right.
“I’ve received so much in my painting life over many years, I like to give something back."
David held his first solo exhibition in 1975 at the Victorian Arts Society. His distinguished career includes many awards including the Distinguished Leadership Award for Outstanding Services to Watercolour and Teaching in 1990. He is a member of the Australian Watercolour Institute and a fellow member of the Victorian Artist Society Australia. In 2016, he was given an Honorary Life Membership at the Watercolour Society of Victoria.
Prompted by the fire threat, in 2013 David and his partner, artist Diana Edwards, moved from the Yarra Valley to Phillip Island, attracted by its open spaces and the Gippsland landscapes and seascapes.
Both are now members of the Artists Society of Phillip Island, and recently tutored the winners of the inaugural Phillip Island and San Remo Rotary Youth Arts Award, comprising a $6000 scholarship and workshops with internationally acclaimed artists.
Apart from running classes in his Silverleaves studio and in Melbourne, David regularly receives invitations to teach overseas. He has a particularly avid following in China. A forthcoming Chinese publication on his work is entitled: Inspirations and Technical Breakthroughs – Secrets from the Contemporary International Watercolour Masters, vol. 4.
He is often called on to judge national and international art exhibitions and has donated paintings for charity.
He is grateful that at the age of 76, he still has the energy for these commitments, despite a health scare seven years ago when he was given a 50/50 chance of survival.
Apart from his love of painting, which he pursues even when on holiday, David plays golf (for which he has also won awards) and the guitar.
Eight of David Taylor’s paintings feature in the Twenty Melbourne Painters Society’s exhibition, opening on August 22 at the Glen Eira City Council Art Gallery in Caulfield.
RENOWNED watercolour artist David Taylor, now a resident of Phillip Island, left Caulfield Technical School at the age of 15 to begin a six-year apprenticeship in colour etching at the North Melbourne Printing School of Graphic Arts. This provided him with invaluable training in the use of colour and a solid background for his future career as a professional painter.
Beginning as a weekend painter, initially using oils and proofing inks, David managed to sell quite a lot of his early work. His study of artists such as Harold Herbert, Hans Heysen and John Loxton led to his lifelong passion for watercolour, an instant, “expressive medium in reflecting atmosphere and light in a fluid and poetic way”.
Nature was his inspiration. As a young man, he would regularly venture out in his FE Holden to paint en plein air.
“I have found nature a great teacher over some 50 years,” David says. “Lessons are learnt from painting light in its many ways from early morning to late in the day and seeing and witnessing how quickly the moment will change …
“I feel we learn so much by being with nature, feeling the sun on our backs and wind in our face and then seeing it permanently captured – that ever-so-brief moment captured forever. This is my passion and love.”
Capturing that moment requires practising regularly to paint rapidly. He begins by working on a smaller scale outdoors. These works can then translate into larger works in the studio. David refuses to exhibit any painting that he is not happy with. His work is renowned for its “highly and methodically constructed, architecturally sound, designs and compositions recorded en plein air … in sensuously toned washes and cloaks of colour paying great reverence to the actual nuances of light perceived on the day”.
Eight of David’s paintings feature in the Twenty Melbourne Painters Society’s forthcoming annual exhibition, its 99th, at the Glen Eira City Council Art Gallery in Caulfield.
The Society’s aesthetic is “firmly grounded in the disciplines of depictive realist painting, motivated and inspired by its founding members back in 1918”. David was invited to become a member more than 25 years ago.
His first connection began much earlier when one of its members, Sir William Dargie, awarded him a Highly Commended for his watercolour Back Road to Templestowe (c.1968) which he sold for approximately $45 to a graphic designer.
Having committed himself to becoming a professional artist, he first sought professional training from Ray Horsfield, who told David there was nothing more he could teach him. In the late 1960s, David attended lessons in oil painting with Ian Armstrong, a well-known teacher from the National Gallery Art School who painted portraits and still lifes.
As the first recipient of a three-month study grant from Camberwell Rotary, David studied art overseas and brought back six paintings, including one of the Duomo in Florence. He was then asked to teach – something he has continued to do ever since. He takes great pleasure in seeing his former students, such as Amanda Hyatt and Malcolm Beatty, become successful artists in their own right.
“I’ve received so much in my painting life over many years, I like to give something back."
David held his first solo exhibition in 1975 at the Victorian Arts Society. His distinguished career includes many awards including the Distinguished Leadership Award for Outstanding Services to Watercolour and Teaching in 1990. He is a member of the Australian Watercolour Institute and a fellow member of the Victorian Artist Society Australia. In 2016, he was given an Honorary Life Membership at the Watercolour Society of Victoria.
Prompted by the fire threat, in 2013 David and his partner, artist Diana Edwards, moved from the Yarra Valley to Phillip Island, attracted by its open spaces and the Gippsland landscapes and seascapes.
Both are now members of the Artists Society of Phillip Island, and recently tutored the winners of the inaugural Phillip Island and San Remo Rotary Youth Arts Award, comprising a $6000 scholarship and workshops with internationally acclaimed artists.
Apart from running classes in his Silverleaves studio and in Melbourne, David regularly receives invitations to teach overseas. He has a particularly avid following in China. A forthcoming Chinese publication on his work is entitled: Inspirations and Technical Breakthroughs – Secrets from the Contemporary International Watercolour Masters, vol. 4.
He is often called on to judge national and international art exhibitions and has donated paintings for charity.
He is grateful that at the age of 76, he still has the energy for these commitments, despite a health scare seven years ago when he was given a 50/50 chance of survival.
Apart from his love of painting, which he pursues even when on holiday, David plays golf (for which he has also won awards) and the guitar.
Eight of David Taylor’s paintings feature in the Twenty Melbourne Painters Society’s exhibition, opening on August 22 at the Glen Eira City Council Art Gallery in Caulfield.