Archive for category Author: David Weston
Letting Off Steam || David Weston
Posted by henry in Author: David Weston, Medium: Oil, Medium: Watercolour, Publisher: Halsgrove, Publisher: Halstar, Subject: Railways on April 21, 2009
There’s an old adage that every small boy wants to grow up to be an engine driver. Actually, I suspect that applies more to the age of steam when locomotives were complex, fire-breathing beasts that needed a huge mix of skills to handle and which were almost like living creatures – one false move and they’d have your hand off, no messing. Bit like swans, really. Or was that your leg?
Well, anyway, that little bit of slapstick is a way of letting you know that I’m a sucker for a bit of steam and that this book pushes so many buttons I’m finding it very difficult to be objective. In fact, hang on a minute, I’ve never claimed to be objective, so let’s not even bother. Where I’m trying to get to is to say that the thing about this book is that it’s not one for the rivet counters, but that it captures to absolute perfection the emotional state of just watching a steam engine, whether going full chat up an incline, sitting quietly in a siding, or just rotting in a scrapyard, tears of rust staining its noble flanks.
Look, if you don’t know what I’m taking about, please move away now, because this isn’t a book for you. I don’t mean that unkindly, but the simple fact is that you’ll be wasting your twenty quid and, while we’re on the subject, ONLY TWENTY QUID?, they’re practically giving this away.
I’ve reviewed David Weston’s books before and I’ve liked his ability to create the atmosphere of a landscape, often as you’d like it to be rather than faithfully as it is and now that he’s turned to a subject he clearly understands and loves deeply, I can see what he’s doing. What you get here is the romance of steam without it being romanticised. These locos don’t always shine, sometimes they’re grimy and not in a pretty way, either. They’re, well, they’re . . . steamy.
It’s quite possible that the purists will hate this. There’s a lot of detail not there, sometimes it’s more about the location and the light and shade than it is about the configuration of the wheels, but it’s a wonderful thing to handle and the reproduction is superb.
David Weston: An Artist At Home And Abroad
Posted by henry in Author: David Weston, Medium: Acrylic, Medium: Oil, Medium: Watercolour, Publisher: Halsgrove, Subject: Landscape on November 27, 2007
David Weston has the ability to record a scene not as it is, but as it should be. That is to say that his work is highly subjective, an emotional response, perhaps, and also tinged with a little nostalgia.
David’s previous book covered an England that we all feel must have existed at some time and here he presents a wider view in much the same frame of mind. Travelling through the British Isles, Venice, Bruges, Italy and Norway, David records simple scenes and quiet corners rather than the more obvious grand vistas and includes a short description with most of them that helps to set each one in its context. Reproduction is generally good, but a few of the illustrations seem a little flat and I wonder whether the publisher has had to use transparencies rather than original paintings. It’s a small point but, at the price, it might take the edge slightly off your enjoyment of what is otherwise an eclectic armchair travelogue.
Halsgrove 2007
£34.99
David Weston's England
Posted by henry in Author: David Weston, Medium: Various, Publisher: Halsgrove, Subject: Landscape on March 28, 2006
David Weston paints an England that we all know is there somewhere. Although not specifically a nostalgia artist, there’s a sense of paradise lost in his work, of a time probably only just past when things where just that bit better than they are now.
It would be possible to construct a whole political argument out of this. Does the elusive golden age really exist? Are we deluding ourselves by believing that we could somehow get “back” to that time when things were just about right? However, this is a collection of book reviews, not a rant, so those questions will be left in the air. Nonetheless, this is a book which evokes a warm sense of wellbeing and it’s possible to enjoy it for that alone.
David Weston offers us a collection of thoroughly competent paintings of buildings, places, locations and the odd steam engine and vintage vehicle that add up to a picture of England as we’d like it to be. It’s not a book of instruction but rather inspiration for David chooses popular subjects: landscapes, cottages, rural and industrial scenes and executes them in a pleasantly loose style that captures just enough of the detail without seeming laboured and over-fussy.
Year published: 2005
List price: £29.99
