I am very lucky to be able to offer you a portrait by Pierre at the bargain price of £350 – an offer in support of Salt Lick that is two hundred pounds cheaper than Pierre’s regular commission price. Here is a little bit more about Pierre and his work.
Pierre and I were friends long ago at St Martins (we re-met and married years later!) and he was, still is, a brilliant painter. Back then and until fairly recently, his work was big, rangy, abstract, with a ghost of the pictorial. There was always a sense of an actual space. First abstract, mathematical, then a more touchable, mysteriously natural space that could refer to the body, to undergrowth, to any number of things. Pierre says that for him both illustration and total abstraction are completely valueless and that painting is in part an attempt to find the right place between the two. The examples below are from the last seven or so years.
For the last couple of years, Pierre has been working on portraits, discovering a joy in this more academic form of painting, discovering all the skills and knowledge that was of no use or interest to a twenty year old abstract painter. The trigger for this was a wet holiday in Wales with my brother and his family. My nephew Jem suggested that as it was too wet for Pierre to continue painting the mountain landscape, he could do a portrait of Jem instead.
As soon as we got back, Pierre began learning and experimenting with everything he could about this form of painting, making lots of self portraits. We joked that if people asked, he would tell them he was a self portraitist. (He has also threatened to leave all the many self portraits to my step dad Dave, in his will, telling him he’ll have to get rid of his guitars to make room for them all, but that’s another story.)
Since then Pierre has taken on commissions, working from photographs. The paintings are in oils on board. His most recent commission is below, with a quote from Jane, the customer who commissioned it.
If you (or anyone you know – please feel free to share or send this on to someone!) would like at some point to have a portrait, either of yourself or someone else, this is a really good chance to get one, for £350 – a brilliant price, two hundred pounds cheaper than they would normally be. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to know more, or if you want to discuss what you would like with Pierre.
And of course, with that you get a copy of my book, you help to make it a published reality and you get your name listed amongst the patrons, in every copy, to say thank you for your support.
Lulu Allison, contemporary fiction author 