About
Ken Taylor
Born in Yorkshire
Lives in Quidhampton, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK
I became a student of portrait drawing and painting after a career as an engineer firstly in research and civil engineering, where drawing and perspective were the norm. Shell needed a soil mechanics engineer to coordinate the seabed investigations for their North Sea development in 1974. That led to a 30 years career living firstly in London, The Netherlands, Far East and Gulf region and retiring in 2006 as country manager in Kuwait. After some years volunteering for community groups, I became introduced to drawing portrait, eventually discovering the internationally renowned www.sarumstudio.com and inspiration under excellent teaching. I've been privilege to studying there several weeks a year, tutored by Nicholas Beer and his deputy Alastair Barford, sharing in the trials and joys with other students of all ages, backgrounds and nationalities.
Improvement comes with lots of practice; some say it take 30,000 hours to become half decent.
Persevering at about 5000, with some way to go.
Exhibitions
June 2015-18 - Open Days, Sarum Studio.
July 2016 & 17 - Plain Arts Exhibition, Salisbury
May 2019 - Portrait selected for the Bath Society of Artists Open Exhibition.
February 2020 - Portrait shortlisted for the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition.
July and November 2020 - curated Quidhampton village online exhibition by 11 village artists, reaching a world audience (Covid lockdown activity - see here)
November 2020 - Portrait selected for the Bath Society of Artists Open Exhibition.