#salfordgrammarschool #alevelart #historyofartIt was a complete surprise to get a letter from my old, high school art teacher from sixty years ago asking for my address as he had a surprise for me. Did I still owe a homework or had I missed a detention all those years ago? A few days later a parcel arrived. When I opened it, I found my old homework book from when I started Grammar School in Salford. Mr Pilkington had found it when having a sort out at his home. As he remembered me, he decided to contact me by email and asked for my address. He sent me a lovely letter, and over the next few days we reminisced over those days long ago. Looking through the pages, it was interesting to see the work I had done. In the examples above I seem to have been exploring colour mixing using two different themes. These skills and many more that I learnt would help me in my later work, even though I couldn't remember doing these paintings. ![]() This is the first image I have found of a landscape done at this time. I seem to be playing with the idea of creating distance by lightening the background. The comment on this was that I should consider the flow of the river. Something I now have taken on board and try to do. It seems, even at this early age I enjoyed painting landscapes. Hopefully, in these recent paintings below, I manage to bring the water to life. It surprised me as well that a homework I did at the time also reflected work I would do in the future. The idea of the intermingling of branches and the light coming through them, is something I strive to achieve now, although looking back, I was probably concentrating on finding patterns in the work. It was also encouraging to get creative and positive feedback from a teacher. Looking at these again I can see how these effects still interest me today. A fascinating reminder of my time at school and the journey I took there. I have mentioned before that I was lucky to have a good grounding of all the basics when studying O level and A level art. I was also lucky that during my A level time, Mr Pilkington changed the syllabus from the history of Architecture to the History of Art, giving me an early insight into the work of great artists and a lifelong love of visiting art galleries. After a time as Head of Art at the Grammar school, Royston Pilkington moved to Dorset where he was Chairman of the Purbeck Group of Artists for a time and continues with his work in the arts. He also worked for a US company named SCW Inc. and was involved in an advertising campaign for Halloween and the celebration campaign for the Bicentennial of American Independence of ‘ 76 A couple of impressive paintings by Royston of “Corfe Castle “ and “Old Harry “
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