Rural scene prints UK with real character

Welcome to my blog, I am a professional cartoonist, illustrator, artist and writer. My site here is intended to promote a range of works that I think will look good on the wall. Included on my site is not just my own work, but some works by other artists whose work I love and hope to bring to a wider audience. I hope you enjoy your tour of my site and welcome any feedback. Prints are fulfilled by The Print Space for prints on paper, they are one of the UK's premier fine art print companies, and there is also the option of buying some images printed on to canvas, these are fulfilled by Printumo. All prints are available worldwide.

A good rural picture does not need to be polite. The countryside can be muddy, wind-bent, patched with rust and scattered with buildings that have earned their place. That is part of what draws me to rural scene prints UK buyers can live with for years: pictures with a sense of weather, work and particular places, rather than generic views designed to match a cushion.

Much of my work begins in and around the Gloucestershire countryside. I photograph what catches my eye, often on walks or drives where the obvious subject is not the point. A field boundary, a sagging shed, an awkward group of trees or the flat light over the River Severn can all become the beginning of a painting or drawing. When the weather is bad, the photographs come back to the studio and the work carries on there.

Rural scene prints UK walls can live with

The best rural scenes have enough room for the viewer. They suggest a place without trying to explain every last detail. A print of a lane, field or farm building can bring calm to a room, but it should still have a bit of edge - a strong shape, a useful contrast, an unexpected mark or a colour that holds its own from across the room.

That is why I am more interested in character than postcard prettiness. The Gloucestershire landscape has plenty of beauty, of course, but it also has working edges. There are neglected corners, overgrown tracks, patched roofs and buildings that sit firmly in the landscape because they have been there for a long time. Those details give a picture a story.

For a sitting room, hallway or home office, a rural print can work especially well when the rest of the interior is fairly clean and simple. It brings texture without making the room feel busy. In a more traditional space, it can sit happily beside wood, old books and worn fabrics. In a modern flat, the same image can provide a welcome roughness against smooth walls and furniture.

Size matters, though. A small print has the feel of a found observation and works well in a grouped wall arrangement. A larger paper or canvas print gives the image more presence and lets the marks, tones and awkward little details do their job. There is no single right answer - it depends on the wall, the light and how much visual noise is already in the room.

Sheds, corrugated iron and the useful beauty of old buildings

I have a long-standing penchant for old buildings, sheds and corrugated iron. They are not fashionable subjects in the usual sense, which is probably why they remain so interesting. A shed can be lopsided, dented and held together with additions from three different decades, yet still have an extraordinary arrangement of lines and colour.

Corrugated iron catches light beautifully. It can turn dull grey, greenish blue, silver or almost white depending on the weather. Rust brings its own reds, oranges and browns, while industrial metalwork introduces hard geometry - bolts, rails, gates, rooflines and shadows. These things are visually rich before any artistic interpretation begins.

Old industrial buildings have much the same appeal. They carry evidence of use: peeling paint, repaired windows, faded signage and surfaces changed by years of rain. Around sites on the River Severn, there is often a particularly good meeting point between industry and landscape. The river, sky, mud and metal seem to belong in the same picture.

These are not subjects chosen to make a building look quaint. I like them because they have structure and because they resist being tidied up. A painting or charcoal drawing based on an old shed should retain some of that stubbornness. It needs the dark marks, the gaps, the crooked angles and the feeling that this is a real thing standing in real weather.

New charcoal drawings and photographs

New charcoal drawing images have recently been added alongside new photographs. Charcoal is a good fit for these subjects because it is direct and physical. It can move quickly from a soft, smoky grey to a deep black, and it is very good at describing the weight of a roof, the darkness inside a doorway or a hedgerow against a pale sky.

The drawings are not attempts to make a photograph by hand. They allow a little more editing and emphasis. A line can be pushed harder, an area of shadow can be simplified, and a modest rural building can become something more graphic and memorable. That makes charcoal prints particularly useful for walls where you want a strong black-and-white image with plenty of atmosphere.

Photography has a different job. It records the odd visual facts that can be difficult to invent: a painted sign half-hidden by branches, a roof patched with several materials, or sunlight falling across corrugated panels. The camera lets me collect these moments, then either present them as photographs or use them as starting points for paintings and drawings.

A detour to Los Angeles

Not all the work comes from rural Britain. I am also drawn to the large advertising signs and street details of Los Angeles. These images have a different energy - sun-bleached colour, big lettering, fading surfaces and bold shapes against wide skies. They are available as photographic images as well as canvas prints, and they make a useful counterpoint to the quieter rural work.

A large sign is often a ready-made composition. Its type, scale and weathered paint tell you something about the place without needing a crowd of people in the frame. On canvas, those photographs can have real impact, particularly in larger rooms or spaces that need one confident image rather than several smaller ones.

The connection between a Gloucestershire shed and a Los Angeles sign might not be obvious at first, but both reward looking closely. Both are objects shaped by time, weather and use. Both can be far more interesting than a perfectly preserved building or a freshly printed billboard.

Prints made to be enjoyed, not hidden away

All works are open edition, not limited editions. That is deliberate. I would rather a picture finds the wall where it belongs than turns into a precious object people feel nervous about buying. The value is in the image, the quality of the print and the pleasure it gives each time you walk past it.

Paper prints are produced to a high fine art standard by The Print Space, while selected images are offered as canvas prints through Printumo. The choice between the two is mostly about the effect you want. Fine art paper has a crisp, considered feel and suits drawings, paintings and detailed photography. Canvas has more physical presence and can be particularly effective for bolder photographs and larger images.

There are also new exciting works by Steve Parker, an artist whose work I am very pleased to include. Bringing in artists I genuinely admire keeps the selection alive and gives the site the feel of a personal gallery rather than a catalogue full of interchangeable pictures.

If you are choosing a rural print, trust the image that stays with you after you have looked away. It may be the field, the shed, the heavy charcoal sky or simply a piece of corrugated iron catching the light. That is usually the one that will look good on the wall.