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Carl Bevan - Landscape & Cityscape Artist

Writer's picture: Jordan BrinkworthJordan Brinkworth

An Artist who fantastically captures both our landscapes and cityscapes in his own unique style. It's hard to believe that Carl not only embarked upon his artistic journey just four years ago in 2018, but actually had a D Grade in his Art class in school.


Having always loved drawing cartoons growing up, Carl a few years ago decided to reinvigorate this love of animation through graphic design. 'One day for fun', Carl says, 'I decided to buy an iPad and just start getting creative with it. . . and comic strip series called 'The Sneebs'... when suddenly after a couple of months someone asked if I could do a portrait of two dogs and a cat and it was surprisingly OK. . . '.



After posting photos of those digitally drawn animals online, Carl, after being pleasantly surprised that people 'actually liked them' decided to 'spend hours' continuously refining his digital illustrations.


'That was the gateway drug: Dog Portraits'

Unbeknownst to Carl at the time, his attempt to better create his digital dog portraits, by getting to grips with layering and colour theory, would actually place him in good stead and provide him with good practice for when he began to move to paint later on - a switch that actually came almost entirely out of the blue.



In fact it was a journey that began when Carl's work manager one day encouraged him to enter a pretty big art competition - the prize was a £1,000 -judged by BBC Art Editor, Will Gompertz.


'So I just bought 20 quid worth of acrylic paint and away I went' Carl says. Though, what makes him all the modest here is the fact that he actually went on to win it!


After winning this prize, 'a light bulb went off' Carl tells me, 'and I decided to paint 20 paintings. . . some were crap but from number seven onward it just clicked and now I'm on number 94'.



Carl continues to paint using acrylic, particularly enjoying its quick drying time and continuously refines his layers by using an enormity of brushes. Yet he also hones in on a psychological phenomenon known as 'FLOW' - a mental state of total calmness, contentedness and concentration that causes the person to become completely immersed in what they are doing.


The ability to place himself in such a mental zone however, may well arise from Carl's previous career as a rock star. Yes you heard that right. If you didn't know already, hidden behind these brilliant works is the drummer of the immensely popular 1990's band 60 Foot Dolls who toured in the USA, did gigs with Oasis and featured on the bill at the likes of Reading and Glastonbury Festivals - there are plenty of sources online if you want to know more about his musical background, so I won't go into too much detail here.


Carl's cityscape and landscape paintings paintings may indeed be just what we might see with the naked eye at first, yet take a closer look and you'll see just how much his music continues to influence his artistic design to this day.



Observe the trees, the leaves, the water and, most prominently - the skies and the clouds, in Carl's work for instance and see how the realism seems to unravel.


After a while, you might begin to realise, especially with his more natural landscape paintings of Cardiff's Parks, that these paintings are in fact more kin to a dream than reality. Indeed, stemming from his musical career, these landscapes are rhythmically psychedelic in something which Carl purposely does in an attempt to transport viewers to a familiar but other worldly landscape.



'Why is it however,' I ask, 'when you've been all over the world that you decide to paint Cardiff?'


'Well, landscapes and cityscapes fascinate me... partly because I'm face blind' he says.


Seeing my increasingly curious look as I sip my pint in the pub as we sit together, Carl laughs and reaffirms this: 'I've watched a whole film before without realising Robert De Niro in it'.

I almost spit out my drink, half in shock and half with laughter.



Painting Cardiff's landscapes appeals enormously to Carl primarily as he himself is Welsh. Growing up in the small town of Glynneath, he has now lived in Cardiff for quite some time.

Portraying and reinventing the noticeable sights in the city 'allows me to connect with the people I've come to know', Carl humbly informs me.


What he also captures however, is the way that the landscape soon starts to transform as the day turns to dusk. Carl is able to capture the very essence of this middling hour: when the commuters have gone home but the party animals haven't quite arrived; when the rain has just stopped and the trees in the park begin to blossom.



 

Find More from Carl! Carl's Instagram


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