My name is Chris Chalk ( as you may have guest all ready ) and I am an artist living in the Pembrokeshire village of Cilgerran near Cardigan in west Wales
Art has been my passion ever since I was a small boy growing up on a dairy farm in west Wales where I used to spend a lot of time drawing and sketching wildlife. In 1981 I attended a wildlife drawing course at the Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust which fuelled my passion further. Then of course I did grow up and life got in the way of my art for a number of years. I started off my working life as a Gamekeeper at 16 years old, then aged 18 I changed career path quite dramatically and for the next 4 years worked as a plumber completing my plumbing apprenticeship in Swindon in Wiltshire. At 22 I again changed direction and joined the Royal Navy as a marine engineer and for the following five years I sailed the seven seas ( well, a couple of them anyway ).
At 27 and having recently left the services I moved to New Zealand for a year but ended up staying and travelling in New Zealand and Australia for the next 6 years or so. Great times where had by all. Whilst living in Australia I attended the CAE in Melbourne and completed a art / drawing course.
I came back to the UK in 2004 to have an operation on my knee and now live about 15 miles from where I grew up in a small village of Cilgerran in Pembrokeshire west Wales. It seems strange how my life so far has been like a big circle that's taken back to where I started drawing and painting in Wales. So now I paint as much as I can. A variety of subjects from Welsh Landscape Paintings, Wildlife Paintings, Pet Portraits to Seascapes and Portraits. My preferred medium is oil painting. I started off as most artist do with watercolour painting but decided to concentrate more on oils after being inspired after watching a BBC television programme by Rolf Harris ( what a legend! ). With oil painting I find I can get stuck in without the planning necessary with watercolours and any mistakes that occur can be corrected later. It's a very much more forgiving medium and is much better suited to my temperament.
I am an active member of the Cardigan Art Society and exhibited some of my work in their highly successful 2008 summer exhibition held in the
Theatre Mwldan in Cardigan.
A selection of my paintings are on show and for sale at art gallery and picture framers 'Frame by Frame' which is situated in Cardigan Town high street.
I also had one of my paintings accepted for the Patchings 2008 art exhibition. Which is part of the Patchings 2008 festival
I try to paint everyday. Not for any deep and meaningful reason such as to find myself or to explore my inner thoughts, but simply because I love it.
That's it!. If you're still awake ( well done ) take a look around my website and see what you think. If you'd like to let me know please do by either leaving a message in my guest book or just drop me an email.
Best Wishes ~ Chris
