Stephen Brown (1947 -)
He was born in Chard and trained to be an engineer. Although he also attended Somerset College of Art 1966 – 1970 and under Patrick Larkin in the 1970’s he did not immediately become a full time painter. I know he worked for Phoenix Engineering in Chard, which is a company I did a lot a business with when I was helping to run our family engineering business and when I met Stephen at the Red Rag Gallery (in Stow on the Wold) a few years ago, I happened to mention that the first few of his painting which I bought (in the mid 1990’s) were all evening scenes he said that that was the only time he could get out to paint and he used to rush out after work to capture the local scenes.
He paints mostly in oils and many are of local beach scenes near his home in Sidmouth or the
surrounding countryside. He has also painted in Italy in Venice, Lake Garda and Tuscany when he has visited the areas on holiday.
He was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) in 1997 and he has also exhibited at the Royal Academy (RA), Royal West of England Academy (RWA) and the New English Art Club (NEAC). In 2003 he was elected a member of the Small Painting Group. He has exhibited in London and in many other galleries around the country including (but not limited to), Clifton Gallery in Bristol, Rowley Contemporary Arts, The Sheen Gallery, The Thompson Gallery in London, Red Rag Gallery (Stow on the Wold), the Wykeham Gallery in Stockbridge and The Barnes Gallery.
