Collection: John Scott Martin PRSMA

John Scott Martin is President of the Royal Society of Marine Artists, Past President of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, and also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.  His work features in collections throughout Europe, Scandinavia and the USA

He graduated from the Nottingham College of Art in graphics and printmaking. After leaving college he continued to draw, believing that drawing formed not only the basis but also the most important element of his future work.

He writes:
"I ended a long career in graphics, printing, photography, art direction, and design management, returning to my first love, painting and printmaking.  Initially images of Cornwall, particularly the landscape of West Penwith. It was during this time that I worked extensively with the National Trust on the visual interpretation for visitor locations of their newly acquired sites in the St Just mining district. I often had the opportunity to visit underground. I produced many works on the mining imagery of West Cornwall.

For the last twenty years, I have become increasingly drawn to the sea, sailing and ships. I am inspired by classic yachts and sailing barges, encompassing craft of all shapes and sizes. ‘If they are on the sea they can be inspirational’. Working from my own photographic imagery is a vital part of my creative process. This is necessary to me as I live and work in Worcestershire, about as far from the sea in England as you can get. Structure, texture and content determine his choice of media. I work in oils, acrylics, watercolours, pastels, and ink.

I first discovered and developed my lino cutting skills at art college (I still use some of my cutting tools from that time). My NDD thesis and my final examination pieces were illustrated using linocuts. When I returned to painting in the 1990’s I soon found that my work was accepted by a number of galleries in the UK. To satisfy their requirements for my work it was suggested that linocut prints might be worthwhile. At that time I was integrating collage into my paintings and it was this that inspired me to print onto collage backgrounds. This technique has provided the basis for my printmaking ever since."