John Hunt is a watercolour artist based in the West Country. He paints mainly en plein air in the Somerset Levels and Mendip Hills, inspired by the interplay of light, colour, and atmosphere.

PAINTINGS chevron_right

CLASSES chevron_right

Wookey Hole Evening - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Bude - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Iford Bridge - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Wookey Hole - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Wells Roofs - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Mendip Lane - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Marsten Bigot - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Trafalgar Square - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Near Wookey Hole - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Iona beach - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Wells Cathedral Snow - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Mendip Lane - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Wookey Hole Snow - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Near Evercreech - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Chesil Beach - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Port Issac - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Mary on a Bridge - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
The Thames from the Eye - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Marston Bigot Church Somerset - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Chain Gate Wells - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Wells Rooftops - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Bristol Cathedral - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Bishops Palace Gate Wells - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
St. Cuthberts Church Wells - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Bishop's Garden - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Cathedral Green Wells - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Shrewsbury - Watercolour painting by John Hunt
Riverbend - Watercolour painting by John Hunt

John has painted with watercolours since childhood. He studied Fine Art at Hammersmith College in London and later Graphic Design at Reigate College of Art.

He combined working as a Freelance Illustrator and an Art Lecturer at Hounslow College.

Relocating to the West Country in the late eighties, he taught at Millfield Summer School, The Blue School, and Strode College. John now lives in Wookey Hole, nr Wells, He mainly paints in the evocative Somerset Levels and Mendip Hills, preferring a direct plein-air approach and aiming to capture a sense of immediacy and place.

John has been a very successful artist exhibiting in solo, group and open exhibitions. He has been published in The Artist, and The Artist & Illustrator. In 2011 John received national recognition winning first prize in the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition.

"I like the freshness and vitality of watercolour, and the fact that, to be successful with the medium, you must have a plan, a vision for the painting and work quickly. I love to go off for the day, to wander in the hills and set up my easel and paint.

Usually, the qualities that attract me to a particular subject are the colour and light. I stand in front of these subjects in awe. I get caught up in them, in their beauty and mood, and this inspires an emotional response. It is not always the big landscape scenes that are the most impressive. I often find something on a more intimate scale and that, because of the play of tones, and colours, is just as exciting. I don't think I must paint churches, or trees or fields, it is always something about the interaction of shapes, light and colour. I am wandering about and suddenly the landscape seems to fit somehow - I can visualise it as a painting. Then, in painting what is there, I try to be true to the medium as well as the subject. The result depends on the combination of medium and subject, filtered through my perception and response.

My real joy in painting is when I go out and produce something on the spot that somehow captures the moment, the mood and comes alive"