Artist with an eye for golf
This article could be of great interest to any golf clubs that might be considering having any commemorative artwork produced to use as either presentation, gifts or for their own purposes, possibly to mark their course’s anniversary. Neil works primarily in watercolours and has produced limited edition print runs in the past and will again as you will discover. Firstly though, here is Neil’s story so far.
Throughout his formative years Neil’s ambition was always to become an artist. He had no idea how this would happen but he was confident of his artistic talent. As the years in various occupations went by, he set his sights on moving abroad. The seed had been sown and Neil and his wife, Sue, were determined to take that jump to coincide with his 45th birthday in 1993. He didn’t want to leave it until he was a retiree and wonde ’Could I have made it and been a success?’ Their resignation notices were submitted, their house was put up for long term rental and they bid farewell to their home in Morecambe and departed for the start of their new life and next adventure in the lovely small fishing and holiday village of Burgau on the Algarve.
That’s when reality set in – where is next month’s money coming from, what happened to his company car? etc, etc. The answer was that they would have to learn the Portuguese language, Sue would seek employment and Neil would have to spend the winter building up enough watercolour paintings to then have his first, nerve wracking, art exhibition. It would be held at a prestigious sporting complex called Barringtons Golf & Spa Resort at Almancil, close to Vale do Lobo golf course. The preview evening, which was only for invited guests, was a nervy affair for Neil, but thankfully an undoubted success.
Neil opened his own studio/gallery on the main road in the centre of Burgau and at the same time made an approach to the famous golf club close to Portimao, Penina. He told them of his dream to be a successful artist and offered his services. The golfing director invited Neil to discuss possibilities and was commissioned to design a logo for Penina’s golfing academy. That was just the start of slightly different path for Neil as he was also commissioned by them to produce many murals, a new venture indeed.
The subject matter that Neil tackles is very varied, from sport to portraits to also his love of massive construction projects. In the 90’s the Vasco da Gama Bridge spanning the Tagus River at Lisbon was being constructed and at the time it was the largest bridge in the world. Neil contacted the construction consortium, Lusoponte, and was commissioned to produce six original watercolour paintings depicting the various aspects of the bridge’s construction.
He then had these originals made into limited edition prints which he then individually signed and numbered. Lusoponte then used those prints as presentations to the workforce and other dignitaries as mementoes of their involvement in such a wonderful achievement. This wouldn’t be Neil’s only foray into the realms of construction artwork as you will discover.
During the early months of 1999 Neil’s thoughts were on the up and coming Millennium celebrations: what an opportunity the golf courses on the Algarve presented. Neil approached all of the Algarve courses that were operating at the time and asked for their approval for him to produce the Algarve Golf Millennium calendar. At that time there were just fourteen golf clubs: Palmares Golf, Pine Cliffs Golf & Country Club, Salgados Golf Club, Parque da Floresta, Vale de Milho Golf, Alto Golf & Country Club, Vilamoura Old Course, Pinheiros Altos, Vale de Lobo, Pestana Pinta Course, Le Meridian Penina Golf & Resort, Quinta do Lago, Vila Sol and San Lorenzo Golf Club.
Each month the calendar featured a painting of one hole on each course, and was printed in Portuguese, English and German. On the back of each month was the golf professional’s description of how he would play the hole together with the plan of the hole and the important dates during the year for their events. Brian Evans (Pinheiros Altos) said of the island 17th ‘Frankly, I am always tempted to play this hole with my eyes closed’.
This lovely scene illustrates that the golfer doesn’t necessarily have to be the main focal point, as this painting titled ‘Swan Lake’ shows, with the whole vista and black swans in the foreground taking centre stage.
Moving on to other sports, in 1999 there would only be one more FA Cup Final and one more FA Trophy Final at the old Wembley Stadium. It was rapidly approaching ‘The End of an Era’. Neil made contact with the director who was in charge of the department that was charged with bringing that era to a close. He gave him his full authorisation to produce artwork and limited edition prints depicting the last final – it was between Chelsea and Aston Villa.
He then made an approach to Umbro who were at the time the sponsors of the FA Trophy Final; Umbro commissioned Neil to undertake a similar project for their final match, which featured Kingstonian and Kettering Town. Neil was one of the very few outsiders apart from the St. Johns Ambulance Brigade who was at both of those finals.
The limited edition print featured the club crest of every team that had ever played in the FA Cup finals at Wembley since its opening in 1923. This limited edition print series was suitably called: ‘End of an Era’
Neil’s construction artwork was mentioned earlier and for good reason. In 2004 Neil was commissioned by the largest construction company that was involved in the building of Heathrow Terminal 5, that company was Laing O’Rourke. He painted six watercolours of the various aspects of the project. These he then had made into limited edition prints which, similar to the bridge in Lisbon, they were used as presentations to all of the workforce who were involved at that time.
Golf Course Paintings and Limited Edition Prints details.
Neil’s original paintings are normally 45cms x 30cms, but can be adjusted to suit a client’s requirements. Each original watercolour painting (of these dimensions) will be priced at £1,200 (plus P&P) and the estimated time to produce would be approximately two full working weeks. The original will be in a double mount and will feature the relevant golf club logo if required. Neil can work from photography provided by the client, but would prefer to work from his own photography. Should he have to visit the courses he would charge travelling costs and overnight accommodation. An alternative would be for the club to arrange those aspects.
Should a series of limited edition prints be required the minimum print run that would be of 100 prints with the size being that of the original painting with a surrounding white border featuring any required wording and club logo. Those prints would be charged at £35 per print (plus P&P).
All of Neil’s originals are painted with artist quality Winsor and Newton paints on Fabriao paper. His prints are printed onto Century Cotton Laid Premium White 280gsm paper.
If any further information is required, contact: neiljosephdavies@hotmail.com