Rex Preston Biography

Rex Preston was born in Yardley in 1948, but when his parents became licensees soon afterwards, Rex Preston moved to many different areas in the Midlands during his school years before eventually settling in Derbyshire.

Rex Preston was rarely settled at school, mainly due to the number of times we moved, but Rex remembers clearly always enjoying the art lessons at whatever school Rex Preston attended and spent much of his time painting and drawing. At the age of fifteen, Rex Preston was accepted at Newcastle-under-Lyme School of Art on the strength of his sketchbooks and then went on to study at Derby College of Art. Some of the teaching Rex Preston received was excellent, and the training in perspective and life drawing has proved invaluable.

After college, Rex worked as a print designer at Bemrose Printers in Derby, but Rex Preston never stopped painting in whatever spare time was available and soon began to sell many of his paintings. At the age of  21, He resigned from his job to concentrate on painting full-time. Rex Preston has never regretted that decision for one minute.

In his early years as an Artist, Rex painted a variety of subjects, but his interest in the countryside naturally led him towards landscape painting. The style was never a conscious decision, it just evolved over the fears, but living by a river in a beautiful part of Derbyshire certainly had a huge influence. Rex Preston was able to experience nature's changing moods at first hand. An Artist never stops looking. It may have snowed for an hour, but when the sun comes out and begins to melt the snow, everything starts to glisten on the trees, rooftops and rivers. In the evening, the sun sets silhouetting the trees and village church. On waking in the morning, the mist engulfing the whole scene creates a completely different world.

Rex Preston get his inspiration from the landscape and love to paint everything from the moody, mountainous landscapes of Scotland to the beautiful spring flowers on the cliffs in Cornwall. Each year he goes on many painting trips around the country, either finding new areas to paint or revisiting favourite areas like Cornwall. Rex never accept commissions, which leaves him free to paint wherever he wants. Rex Preston is fascinated by the wild, unspoilt areas of the country, particularly the moorland areas of the Peak District.

Rex Preston spends as much time as possible out in the countryside searching for subjects, often accompanied by his son Mark who is also an Artist. When the weather allows, Rex paints out on location and just walk until something takes his eye and Rex starts painting. Rex Preston quite often does not  know what he is looking for, but it usually involves colour, light and reflections. Sketching is also very useful to quickly record fleeting light effects and atmospheres, often in showery weather it would be impossible to paint, but a sketch can show the changing skies and light effects. The most incredible effect might only last for a few minutes, but with his pencil and sketchbook, Rex can capture enough to be able to paint it later. Back in his studio, his sketch will remind him of what really inspired him and, together with his memory and imagination, will give him all Rex needs to complete the painting. Most of his larger paintings are done from sketches, as they are too big to paint on location, but Rex surrounded himself in his studio with his plain-air paintings to help with the colour.

Rex usually paints five days a week, and tries to keep the weekends free, although framing, varnishing etc quite often get done in evenings and weekends. When painting out on location however, his working hours are determined by the travelling distance, light and weather conditions. Rex Preston s family and friends are quite used to him cancelling arrangements when he is still up on the moors at 9pm.

Rex Preston regularly travel to London to visit major exhibitions of the work of Van Gogh, Monet, Constable, Turner and many others. Rex is fascinated by their skill in using the paint to create such powerful moods and feelings.

Although Rex has painted in watercolour and acrylic, he always return to oils as his preferred medium.

His only ambition is just to continue to enjoy painting as much as he does now, his enthusiasm for painting grows stronger each year. Recently Rex has enjoyed painting some abstracts, inspired by his experience of colour, light and use of paint. Rex Preston looked forward to developing this further alongside his landscapes.

This artists page is under construction and prints will follow soon. 

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