The Yorkshire Artists (Part II)

Artist Biographies

COLIN HALLIDAY

Colin Halliday’s work focusses primarily on Northern landscapes. Born in Cumbria in 1964, he was brought up on a farm just below the Pennines in the Eden Valley. He graduated from Exeter with a B.A. honours degree in 1992 and has been painting full time ever since.

For Colin application of paint is key. “I want it to look like a painting. I want the viewer to see the splashes and drips, the physicality of the paint as well as appreciating the subject.” Colin feels that this subjective way of seeing and painting is the language of the soul; what comes from the heart, touches the heart. “Photographic styles of painting bore me to tears and are often done to impress the viewer rather than engage with one’s own emotions.”

HELEN PEYTON

Helen Peyton is an artist printmaker who specialises in limited edition lino monoprint and lino reduction prints. She works in Skipton, North Yorkshire.

Lino printing is a hand-crafted art and Helen creates her prints on a Victorian printing press that is the complete opposite to high-tech – this one is no-tech!

Past topics for her work have included the sky at night, and ancient Yorkshire landscapes. Her current theme is a series of everyday objects such as record players, radios, and televisions from the 1940s inspired by artefacts she discovered during a 2-year period as artist-in-residence at Craven Museum in Skipton, North Yorkshire.

TOM WOOD

Tom Wood has made artworks all his life. He presently lives in Halifax and works from his studio in Batley, West Yorkshire.

Since graduating from Sheffield School of Art in 1978 his work has been exhibited worldwide. His celebrated portraits of Professor Lord Robert Winston and Alan Bennett were both commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery, London. Amongst other notable commissions are his portraits for HRH Prince of Wales and Yale University. He worked in Hong Kong as Art Adviser for The English Schools Foundation and whilst there was instrumental in developing art projects for gifted and talented students and large scale digital mural projects. A highly respected educator he has also been a featured artist in a number of TV arts programmes.