Tony Hall
When did you start your creative practice and why?
I've always done, and wanted to do, drawing and painting.
What themes or ideas do you find yourself returning to most often?
I seem to produce work in series - flowers, people, objects, trees keep coming around.
What is your creative process from idea to finished piece - is it always the same?
I don't really have ideas - usually it's a kind of urge that sets things off. Working from life generally requires doing the work in a single session, eg my son asleep on the sofa, a subject I've done many times, means using whatever materials are nearest and hoping he doesn't move or wake up before I'm done.
Is there a particular piece of yours that feels especially meaningful? Why?
Some drawings of family, done without thought, directly and quickly.
What do you find challenging as an artist, and how do you overcome these challenges?
The thought that no-one needs me to do what I do, or cares if I stop. I try to think about something else.
How does your immediate environment or location play in your work?
It provides material.
Who are the artists (past or present) who have strongly influenced you?
I tend to fixate more on a particular painting, but 'my' artists include Velasquez, Piero, Chardin, Titian, Guston, Poussin, Arikha, Morandi, Gwen John, Manet, Vermeer
What tools, materials, or techniques are essential to your practice? Is there a colour you just couldn't do without?
I use whatever seems the appropriate medium/method/colour at the time.
How do you balance artistic expression with practical concerns like income or marketing, social media?
I'm lucky in that I don't need to sell work to live - I hate publicising myself, although I'm trying to change.
If you could give the younger you advice what would it be?
Draw more, draw from life.
Have you got a project / award / residency / idea you are excited to share with us?
My show at Chapel St Arts Centre in Derby, Some Flowers, (a series of digital drawings made on my phone) is near the end of its three month run and I'm looking to find further venues.
If your work could evoke one feeling or reaction in viewers, what would it be?
A great piece of art quite often makes me laugh - at the audacity, the skill, the truth. Someone going back for a second look is a good reaction.
What is your website and how do we find you on social media?
I have a website for my Some Flowers exhibition https://tony-hall.sumupstore.com and an old website that became too much work to keep updated some years ago, www.anthonythomashall.co.uk. New one coming very soon, as I always say.
On instagram I am @tonyhall63.
