In the summer of 2015, the owners of Le Frog, Dee and Xavier Teychene, invited me to exhibit my work at their restaurant. Once the exhibition was installed, I spent many happy hours photographing and sketching on the terrasse. Or profiting from the delightful swimming pool and sampling delicious food from their summer menu! I [...]
Before we start, a word of warning; this won’t be an ordinary review because there is nothing “ordinary” about the picturesque and romantic universe of Johan Asherton. His first solo project, ‘God’s Clown’, originally released in 1988, is an album of exceptional beauty.
A slightly experimental watercolour, where I left parts of the paper untouched. The composition is adapted from a photograph that I took one early autumn afternoon. I am always on the look out for unusual views of familiar places. This landscape of Briançon “old town” with the Fort des Tetes in the middle distance was [...]
This painting was based on a photograph taken on February 3rd 2015. Le Monêtier les Bains is a large village in the Serre Chevalier valley with a number of interesting buildings, notably the parish church pictured here. You can see the larch and pine forests in the distance with the ski runs created for the [...]
I made this drawing from direct observation in Autumn 2015. At this time of year the leaves on our cherry tree change from green to golden orange. In the afternoons the Prorel mountain turns a deep blue as the north facing slope is swathed in shadow, providing a stunning colour contrast. It was a very [...]
‘Sunflower Garden’ is probably one of my most ambitious watercolours to date. It shows the view from the bottom of my garden looking across the allotments belonging to our neighbours. In the background you can just see part of the houses in the Rue des Beignets. Each year we are charmed by the sunflowers that [...]
Recent photos from the oldest building in Briancon, showing glimpses of the famous 15th century frescoes; “The Evangelists”, “The Annunciation” and “The Life of St Antoine”.
While I was living in Berkhamsted one of my weekend treats was a stroll along the canal and a visit to either The Boat or Rising Sun pubs (or both). This drawing was based on a photograph I took after the wind and rain had blown numerous leaves on to the towpath. There’s a hint [...]
One of my student paintings, influenced a little by Giorgio de Chirico and Paul Nash. This picture, along with other works by students on my degree course, was donated to the Norwich and Norfolk Hospital in 1986. I also left my appendix there, a rather painful experience. I hope visitors to the hospital enjoyed the [...]
Johan Asherton is a musician and songwriter from Paris, with a really deep bass-baritone voice. We became friends and pen-pals after he admired my book about Kevin Ayers. I’ve photographed Johan and his musician friends a number of times but I always wanted to portray him in a pencil or painted portrait too. Et voila! [...]