Roger Dellar
Biography
Roger Dellar was born in 1949 in St Albans, Hertfordshire, and is a self-taught, award-winning artist. He was Artist in Residence at Petworth House from 1996 to 1998 and has undertaken further residencies at Petersfield Music Festival and Guildford International Music Festival. He has exhibited with the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Watercolour Society, Pastel Society, Royal Society of Marine Artists, New English Art Club and Royal Institute of Oil Painters.
He was elected a Member of the Wapping Group of Artists in 1996, Chelsea Art Society in 1997 and Langham Sketching Club in 2000. He was elected a Member of the Pastel Society in 2003, an Associate Member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 2006 and a Full Member in 2008. He served on the Pastel Society Council from 2008 and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters Council from 2009, becoming Vice President of the Pastel Society in 2011.
Artist Statement
Painting for me is about personal development. It is an ongoing process, never settled, in which each aspect of a painting can inspire another, particularly through surface and mark-making. The journey is from the initial concept to the finished painting.
My subject matter remains, as always, about people and their environments, their body language, whether in bars, interiors, markets or restaurants. In recent times, my interests have also turned to landscape and coastal scenes. I am happiest painting plein air, capturing the moment, and always have a sketchbook to hand.
I must have been a moth in my past life, always being drawn to the light.