When we were children, my father, the painter David Gentleman, never offered much advice to me or my siblings. If we wanted to draw, he would hand out pencils and let us get on with it. He was encouraging, but never gave us instructions. If we were enjoying ourselves, more paper was available; but if we wanted to go and do something else, that was fine too. The idea of teaching people how to do things still makes him uncomfortable, so his latest book, Lessons for Young Artists, has come as a surprise to us all. At 95, he has attempted to distil everything he has learned about working as a painter since the late 1940s into clear advice. These lessons are not aimed exclusively at art students, or even at older people who want to paint, but are for anyone wondering how to build a life and career as a creative person.
I haven’t inherited his artistic talents, but I have picked up other important things from growing up with someone who has managed to spend the past eight decades earning a living from what he enjoys doing most. Over the past two years, as he wrote this book, I’ve spent hours in his Camden studio, talking about painting and drawing and helping him search for pictures to illustrate his ideas. Here are 10 things I’ve learned from a lifetime watching him work.
Try to build a life doing what you want
David Gentleman with his wife, Sue, in their garden. Photograph: Andreas von Einsiedel/Alamy
My father’s parents were both painters who met at the Glasgow School of Art in the 1920s, so the idea of trying to make a living as an artist was not an alarming prospect. He has always managed to pay the bills by painting, drawing, designing book covers, murals, stamps and logos. He has developed a phenomenal work ethic, but this has come fairly easily because painting and drawing is all he really wants to do. As a child I would go to sleep listening to the creaking of the floorboards above my room, as he worked late into the night. I’ve taken a different path, but I always wanted to work as a journalist. I think I learned from him the importance of trying to find an occupation you feel enthusiastic about, so that work doesn’t feel like work.
Don’t procrastinate or wait around for inspiration to strike
‘Starting can feel hard, but you have to get on with it’ … David Gentleman at his home studio in Camden, London. Photograph: Andreas von Einsiedel/Alamy
There has never been any discussion at home of muses, and no leisurely periods spent lounging around waiting for beautiful ideas to appear. Ideas come when you’re at a desk with a pencil in your hand. This is true for most work – starting can feel hard, but you have to get on with it. Pretty much every day of his adult life, my father has got up early, made himself a cup of tea, and got straight to work. Recently, the five flights of stairs up to his top-floor studio have become more challenging; occasionally two hands are required on the bannisters to pull himself up, but there has been no faltering in his commitment to continue working.
But do seek out inspiration by getting out of the house
‘Time away from work is important’ … a watercolour of Liverpool Street station. Photograph: Courtesy of David Gentleman
Time away from work is important. Most days my parents walk through Regent’s Park or Primrose Hill. These excursions are slightly less brisk than they were a few years ago, but going more slowly allows time to take photographs of brutally pollarded plane trees, oak leaves unfurling or interesting patterns in the bark.
Appreciate the sky
Steely grey tones … Suffolk fields, 2015. Illustration: Courtesy of David Gentleman
A large proportion of the conversations I’ve had with my father over the years have involved standing outside, looking up at the sky, admiring the cloud formations, discussing the steely grey tones of advancing rain, staring at the shapes made by horse chestnut trees in the summer or the silhouettes of skeletal trees against a sharp blue winter sky. I’ve learned to share his annoyance at tall buildings eating up chunks of sky but also his love of the spindly cranes on the horizon, as the construction work progresses.
Be organised
A book cover designed by Gentleman. Photograph: Courtesy of David Gentleman
I’m always struck by the absence of artistic disarray in his studio. One drawer is full of sharpened pencils, meticulously organised. Spare tubes of watercolour paints are lined up in the next drawer down, sorted by colour shades (raw umber, burnt umber, yellow ochre, citrus yellow). Paintbrushes are arranged in teacups according to their sizes, rulers of different lengths hang from a huge pinboard, jars of Indian ink are lined up next to spare nibs in labelled boxes. Everything is instantly accessible; the surfaces are clear and ready for work to begin. Chaos is impractical. My room is a heap of books and papers; I’m still learning. Tidying it makes me feel instantly better.
Painting is about more than creating beautiful images
Finding inspiration in things that aren’t conventionally beautiful … a watercolour of gasometers seen from Regent’s Canal, 2018. Photograph: Courtesy of David Gentleman
When I go upstairs to say hello, I never quite know if I will find him drawing calm, rural English landscapes or splattering sheets of paper with red paint, to conjure up bloodstains for anti-war protest banners. I’m impressed at his ability to find inspiration in things that aren’t conventionally beautiful, such as disused industrial gasometers or abandoned second world war military defence structures on the beach at Orford Ness in Suffolk.
Stay curious
A set of postage stamps by Gentleman on ecology 1986, blocked by Margaret Thatcher. Photograph: Courtesy of David Gentleman
You can’t become world weary. Painting requires close observation and a capacity to remain excited by things and keep noticing them. I was surprised to meet my father, then in his 80s, out on the streets of Tottenham in 2011, in the aftermath of the August riots. I was there with a notepad reporting for the Guardian; he was there with his sketchbook, drawing burned-out cars and buildings along the High Road, unbothered by the crowds of police and protesters around him. Quick drawings made on the spot can be much more powerful than pictures laboured over in a studio.
Don’t shy away from difficult projects
A massive undertaking … Gentleman’s murals at Charing Cross tube station. Photograph: Courtesy of David Gentleman
I feel happy every time I go through Charing Cross tube station and see his murals of medieval workers building the Eleanor Cross along the platform; I recognise my mother’s face in some of the figures. This was a massive undertaking, turning tiny wood engravings into huge artworks for a public space. Challenging new commissions stretch your abilities even if they feel overwhelming to begin with.
Appreciate blossom
Joyful appreciation of the natural world … a foliage watercolour, 2010. Illustration: Courtesy of David Gentleman
As children, we were occasionally impatient at his daily attempts to make us share his joyful appreciation of the natural world. Yes, yes, a beautiful leaf. Yes, another bird. More fool me; I’m still hazy about the difference between starlings, swifts, swallows and house martins. For reasons I can no longer remember, his extreme love of blossom used to seem particularly hilarious. But with time, I’ve been infected with his excitement about spring, and have developed my own fascination with hawthorn and apple blossom. The start of the cow parsley season is particularly good for painters, transforming the muddy banks of London’s canals into a beautiful wilderness, which he draws every year.
Keep experimenting and don’t be disheartened by mistakes
A blood splat for an anti-war poster, 2002. Illustration: Courtesy of David Gentleman
Don’t expect to be a genius; you get better by working hard. Don’t rip up your work in a fury if it’s going badly. Set it aside, sit in the garden, drink tea, read the Guardian for a while. Return to your desk. Try again.
Lessons for Young Artists by David Gentleman is published by Particular (£20). To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.
