www.avondalegallery.com Original wildlife, birds of prey, angling, portraiture, landscape limited edition fine art and photography Trevor Harrop, Passion for Angling, Chris Yates

Welcome to Avondale Gallery, the official web site of artist Trevor Harrop. Trevor Harrop is, in his own words, ‘blighted rather than gifted with a tiresome attention to detail’, which is very evident in his work, especially his graphite studies (pencil drawings to you and me). Some works can take between 30 and 40 hours to complete and, for those interested, a stage by stage series of images and accompanying comments by Trevor is included in this site in the ‘Special Feature’. The graphite medium has an unrivalled subtle intimacy and uniqueness found nowhere else in art; a simple contrast of dark and light, plus a million delicate shades in between, requiring a special gift to appreciate fully.

Having never received any formal training, and never having attended art college or any kind of art based institution, I am completely self taught. However, I wouldn1t quite put it as being taught. I rather refer to my ability and style of art as having evolved. It started with me being given a set of oil paints and a couple of boards, as a gift when I was a teenager, and it quickly went from there. I was soon being commissioned to paint portraits and pets and landscapes for friends and relatives. Then for a while the whole art thing took a back seat as all my time was taken up with my career in design and printing in London, which I left in 1999 and moved to Hampshire to concentrate on my art. I have spent time working in all kinds of mediums, from watercolour, producing some very detailed wildlife paintings and occasional oil paintings, but very quickly, the most popular medium has become the graphite studies, or pencil drawings to you and me. This medium has a character and appeal all its own. It seems to have something the others do not. Black and white illustrations and art seem to go through phases of popularity, but these pencil works seem to remain as popular as they have always been, if not more so. I regard myself as being blighted, rather than gifted, with a tiresome attention to detail. But, it is this that seems to be one of the main talking points of the general viewer and collector alike regarding my art. I like to think that, if not pointed out, new discoveries will continue to be made long after the initial viewing, such as a reflection in an eye, a crooked claw, a chewed finger nail, a shadow or a highlight. The desire to achieve visual accuracy of detail to a level somewhat rarely seen in a work or art has intensified as time has passed, with it now being a determination of mine to try to include every tiny spot and hair and glint of eye I can possibly achieve; and it is this that is the attraction for collectors, be it fur, feather, smoothness of skin tone, life-like accuracy, or simply the obvious effort expended in a works creation. If I am not happy with it, it will not be seen by anyone. On this web site I have included a wide variety of subject matter, form birds or prey, including owls, eagles, hawks and falcons; a range of angling images, with trout, pike, barbel, dace, salmon and even bullheads, many of which have been taken from a book I illustrated, designed and produced. I have also included many of the portraits I have, over the years, been commissioned to produce, and working dogs, which, it has to be said, would also be considered as portraits. This, I guess, would also apply to some of the birds of prey, many of which were commissioned by their owners. There are plans to include an exclusive range of works or art. Currently, the site has limited and open edition print runs of all the subjects. And while the originals are also available, it is the intention to produce works of art that will not be printed or reproduced in any way, giving them a unique exclusivity. Original art work is quite costly, but I can assure the collector that, comparatively speaking, the purchaser certainly gets value for money. In addition to the subjects already available on the site, there are also plans to increase the diversity of subject matter; and works of African wildlife; big cats, cheetahs, lions and so on; equine, be it portraits of pet horses or New Forest ponies; photographic, with stunning images of the most breath-taking dawns, landscapes and sunsets imaginable, from some of the people most adept at their capture, like Chris Yates and Terry Lampard. Chris Yates appeared in the television program, shown on BBC, A Passion for Angling1 filmed by Hugh Miles, and Terry Lampard is appearing in the new series currently being filmed by Hugh entitled ?Catching the Impossible1 which features Martin Bowler and friends. All in all, there is plenty for everyone here, from the art connoisseur, to the person wanting to fill a gap on the wall with a nice pretty picture.