Josh Partridge

I trained in the early sixties at Bath Academy Corsham and the Slade School of Art, followed by a year studying Woodblock Printing in Japan. 

My childhood was spent on a farm in Pembrokeshire. Moving to Presteigne in 2011, Radnorshire felt immediately familiar. Making numerous sketches outdoors, I am especially drawn to the curves and zig zagging lines of hedgerows, the deeply etched ploughlines.

More recently I did an MA in Textile Design at Bath where silk screen printing brought me full circle back to early Japanese prints with their simplified shapes, rhythmic line and exquisite decorative detail.

Working in watercolour and gouache I exploit the contrast between transparency and more opaque areas. I sponge back the colour on tough cotton rag paper which gives greater flexibility and enables me to push the image as far as possible.

As well as having exhibited in the U.K at the Curwen and Cadogan Galleries in London and the Beaux Arts in Bath, I’ve also had solo exhibitions in the U.S, Canada, Australia, Holland and Italy.

My work is in numerous private and public collections including the British Museum, London University. The Government Art Collection, Montreal Visual Arts Centre, The Contemporary Arts Society for Wales and Y Tabernacle at Machynlleth.

The two strongest influences on my painting have been Parc-y-Pratt Farm where I grew up, and my maternal grandmother, War Artist Leila Faithful.