John

Virtue
John Virtue trained
at the Slade School of Art in
London from 1965 1969.
In the 1970s he was a postman in Accrington,
North East Lancashire. After work he would walk
on the moorland around Green Haworth where he
lived sketching what he saw. Then he would turn
these sketches into black ink drawings in his studio.
After living in Lancashire he lived in Devon, London
and Italy, then moved to Norfolk in 2009.

Accrington from the Coppice

Landscape No 624
Date 19992000
Landscape No 624 is one of a series of
paintings inspired by John Virtues walks along
Exeter canal near the River Exe.

From 2003 to 2005, Virtue was Artist Associate

at the National Gallery, London.

Landscape
No.664
Date painted:
2003

He is inspired by the landscape paintings of the

Great Masters such as John Constable, Jacob van
Ruisdael and Philips Koninck and thinks that Turner
is easily the greatest, the most convincing, the
most miraculous painter this country has ever
produced. His paintings also have links with
American Abstract Expressionism and Japanese
Zen Calligraphers.

Virtues black and white version of the picture

Margate (?), from the Sea by Joseph

Mallord William Turnerabout 1835-40

Virtue only works in black and white because

he thinks that colour gets in the way of what
he is trying to say in the paintings. Working in
black and white is how I see it deepens my
sense of what colour is there by eschewing
(avoiding using) the colour. He uses black
and white acrylic paint, shellac and black ink
on a raw canvas and uses brushes, rollers,
basting syringes, spray guns, calligraphy
brushes and his fingers and toes to put the
paint onto the canvas.

Walking is very important to Virtue. He likes to walk

in the same area again and again, stopping to
sketch, then carrying on. In Norfolk he regularly
walks from Cley to Blakeney Point and back so he
can sketch the sea. Once he reaches Blakeney Point
he walks back to Cley making sure that he actually
steps into the footprints he made in the sand on the
way there. Its like the walk has changed him and
changed the world. He then goes into his studio and
paints, using the sketches he has made, but also his
memories and how the walk by the sea made him
feel.

Virtues pictures are not like photographs, but are

more a personal response to the sea. Also, each
person who looks at one of Virtues pictures will
see it in a different way. How the picture makes
me feel will be different to how the picture makes
you feel. Also, just as the sea is always changing,
so we are always changing and our feelings when
we look at one of his pictures will change each
time.

John Virtue (b. 1947)

No. 13, 2011-2013
Acrylic on canvas, 2743.2 x
3962.4 mm

From April August 2014 he had an exhibition of his

work at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in
Norwich. It was called The Sea. There were 9
canvases, 25 paintings on paper and 70
sketchbooks. Many of his paintings are large. For
example, No 13 is nearly 3 metres by 4 metres in
size.
At first Virtue found painting the sea very difficult
and was not happy with his work, so he threw his
early attempts away. All the artwork in exhibition
was done between 2011 2013.