David Parfitt RI
David Parfitt lives near Bath. He is a landscape painter and print maker, working with watercolours and water-based media. He was elected a member of The Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 2011 and is currently serving on the RI Council as the RI Honorary Treasurer. He won the Neil Meacher RI sketchbook award in 2012, the Frank Herring award in 2014 and the Winsor & Newton/RI award (for the group of paintings judged to be the most outstanding contribution to the exhibition) in 2016.
In his artist statement he says: I see my paintings as fairly representational and my aim is to create something which has a sense of place without looking too contrived or deliberate. The whole approach for me is about experimenting, learning and developing as I attempt to push the water-based medium as far as I can.
The continuing evolution in my work with watercolour and more recently monoprint means that I spend an increasing amount of time working in the studio. In past years I competed around 60% of my work en plein-air, getting the information first hand in all weathers. I still believe that it is essential to work on paintings outdoors, especially as I enjoy the challenge to get things done quickly and simply but more often than not these days, I take long walks with my sketchbook, a small box of watercolours and a camera, using the sketches and photographs to make studio based pieces where I can give more thought to experimentation, or just work purely from memory.
