Blockley-Blog
Dedicated to the late great watercolourist G John Blockley
John Blockley recieved no formal arts training: yet he painted nearly all his life. He trained as an engineering draughtsman, progressing to designer, then exhibition designer and subsequently became head of the exhibition design and construction department of the Atomic Energy Authority.
Much of his work was in oils, acrylics, watercolours and pastels and concerned with painting his impressions of various forms of projects under construction or in operation, and, on one occasion an eight-metre long mural entitled "Progression of Mankind" for an exhibition in Japan. He exhibited throughout the UK and received a number of awards over the years including the 'Windsor and Newton Prize' at the Royal Institute. He was particularly drawn to bold saturated colours that evoked special places or atmospheric conditions, often favouring intense reds and oranges such as in the paintings that are in the RWA permanent collection.
As well as being a member of the RWA, John Blockley was also a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, The New English Art Club and was a past President of the Pastel Society. He was author to a number of books on painting techniques, a well as an illustrated account of a year in his life: A Personal Record.
He died in January 2002 and an obituary in The Times appeared soon after, and can be found at the bottom of this page.
