Gary Obee

My artistic skills have only really started to developed since I retired five years ago. My earliest recollection of enjoying painting was when I attended secondary school and my art teacher give me a set of oil paints to experiment with. However, in the late 70's jobs were thin on the ground and I was lucky enough to go straight from school into our family car business in Canterbury. This very quickly became full on with demanding hours and subsequently a few years later with young family, my painting ambitions took a back seat.

Fast forward almost 40-years the oil painting bug surfaced again and along with a family relative, I found the time to attend a number of oil painting courses at the Norfolk Painting School. Although still very much involved in the family motor business at the time, I gradually found time at weekends to paint and build on the techniques and lessons learned while in Norfolk.

In 2021 I retired from the motor trade and one of my first tasks was to install a studio in the garden of our home in Broadstairs, where most weeks I am painting to one degree or another. Not full time, but I do enjoy the creativity and always trying to employ those oil painting techniques we were taught in Norfolk such as glazing, impasto and alla prima. Over the past 4-years I have also been an active member with the Thanet Plein Air painting group.