ABOUT MIKE:
“I’ve always been intrigued by the medium of oil painting and the ability of artists to create”
Mike Lord is a Lancashire based landscape artist. He started painting relatively late in life, when he was in his fifties, after many years in other careers: in law, counselling, mediation and as a stay-at-home father with young children.
It all came about when he attended an oil painting class for pleasure at a local craft centre run by professional artist Chris Mcloughlin.
Mike had always been intrigued by the medium of oil painting and the ability of artists to create, but up until that point that interest was confined to admiring the pictures and work of other people, daunted by the technical knowledge required by the medium and not having painted since he was at school.
Mike quickly developed his own style of painting encouraged by his teacher whilst also learning the techniques required to create an image in oils. He sees this as an ongoing process of development, particularly with regard to how he makes marks.
This development was helped when the world was plunged into a global pandemic in recent years because he was unable to work and had a lot of time on his hands, giving Mike the opportunity to concentrate on his painting skills.
“Painting is my response to the world around me.”
— Mike Lord
Mike’s aim is to paint authentically whilst continuing to push the boundaries of what he is capable of, both technically and stylistically.
While he is aware of the influence of other styles and artists, he hopes to create something that is true to himself, trying to paint instinctively and develop his own vision for his image making.
As such this is an ongoing process, and his style of painting and technical skills continue to evolve.
An important part of Mike’s personal ethos is to paint what is around him and often very familiar. Consequently, much of his work is of the countryside and landscape on his doorstep, in a small village in Lancashire: the Leeds Liverpool canal, woodland, farmland and moorland that Mike sees out walking. That’s not to say he doesn’t also enjoy the occasional excursion or flight of fancy in his work, something he has started to explore more frequently when he has had the opportunity to visit other locations after the easing of lockdown or when he has an idea for a painting beyond a more straight forward representation of a place. Whatever he paints his hope is to capture some of the beauty of that location or idea, perhaps romanticizing his subject matter as part of his emotional response to it. His painting teacher has described Mike as a romantic painter, a description he thinks appropriate.
When choosing what to paint he often chooses less conventional but everyday images that he comes across whilst out and about, taking photographs on his phone and then starting work on a painting back in his studio. He sees the original image as a starting point for what he creates and tries to get away from a slavish adherence to replicating that image. In a world where photography is now available to anyone with a mobile phone Mike tries to bring something of himself and how he sees the world to what he paints. That’s not to say that he doesn’t rely on the medium of photography: a close friend is a professional photographer who very generously allows Mike to use his work in his painting.
Mike tends to work quite quickly in the first instance to get an image down but will often spend time over an extended period refining a picture until he is satisfied that he has achieved at least a good part of what he set out to do. This involves putting down layers of paint and overlaying detail and colour to build up the final work. He paints in oils, usually on canvas board. His works are sold framed, and he will post out to locations within the United Kingdom.
