\n The place to see the work of one of the country\u2019s most flamboyant and in-demand landscape artists, Danny Abrahams, is the Abrahams\u2019 Gallery, in Haworth. Feast your eyes on one of his glorious sunsets and be instantly smitten. No-one captures the \u2018golden moment\u2019 quite like him.\n<\/p>\n
\n The gallery is run by his sister, Vicky, but on a visit you might run into this great original talent, who exhibits throughout the UK and has dedicated fans not only here but as far away as America and Australia.\n<\/p>\n
\n The paintings on display are a mixture of local scenes and \u2018dreamscapes\u2019, romantically idealised visions the product of his imagination. They are all different but all definitively, vividly, magically \u2018Abrahams\u2019, as he is known in the trade! They have a whimsical nostalgic quality that seems to chime with a modern mood which is gaining in strength.\n<\/p>\n
\n It\u2019s astonishing to discover that this most accomplished of painters did not actually train as an artist. He is completely self taught and living proof of the old adage great artists are born not made.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe reason why I paint as I do and don\u2019t conform to the book and art experts is because I like to create in the moment and find my own path as I go along and do it my way,\u201d he asserts, proudly. \u201cI\u2019ve never had a lesson in my life.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n By’eck! It’s an uphill struggle – Haworth Main Street(Image: )\n<\/p>\n
\n This is the amazing success story of how a man who had never held a paint brush in his hand became an artist virtually overnight aged 30 – after his wife, Danielle, bought him a set of acrylics on spec. As down to earth and unpretentious as anybody you will ever meet, he still finds it hard to believe how it happened.\n<\/p>\n
\n In his youth, growing up in Wibsey and attending Yorkshire Martyrs, he always wanted to be a footballer – a dashing left winger. That was before he decided that being a rock star, the rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and songwriter for popular Bradford Indie band Hoover Dams, was his life\u2019s ambition.\n<\/p>\n
\n He laughs and shakes his head at a private thought. The band did well, played gigs in all the Indie clubs, even scooped the top prize on a national television talent show. \u201cI guess when I got to about 30, I realised it was never going to happen,\u201d he smiles. \u201cLuckily, I discovered a talent I never knew I had.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Warmth Beyond the Rain – Dreamscape(Image: )\n<\/p>\n
\n At the time he was packing away his guitar, never to be touched again, he was taking up his brushes – and has not put them down since. By the time he was 32 he\u2019d decided to give up his job (with a Leeds\u2019 company specialising in lighting) against the advice of gallery owners who clamoured for his work yet knew how difficult it was to make it as a professional artist. \u201cI never looked back,\u201d he says, \u201cAnd I always had confidence in myself.\u201d It was not misplaced and soon he had a fully stocked order book of commissions.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI bought some books on how to do it but realised it was better for me just to get on with it, invent my own techniques, rather than apply other people\u2019s.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Having said that, he takes inspiration from a variety of works, from a modern traditional landscape artist like David Dipnall to the lavish sweeping vistas of Albert Bierstadt, the 19th-century German American.\n<\/p>\n
\n He works spontaneously, sometimes feverishly, calming himself down slightly by listening to classical music. Making light of the process, he speaks of \u201csquirting\u201d oils on the palette in colours selected to match the mood of the moment.\n<\/p>\n
\n A Passage Through Time – Bronte Bridge(Image: )\n<\/p>\n
\n He doesn\u2019t make preliminary sketches but will occasionally work from photographs to fulfill commissions. He uses a fine brush to paint the outlines onto square boards primed with his choice of base colour.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe underpainting gives the scene its inner glow and I always start from the middle and work outwards. I don\u2019t mess about. I just get stuck in and find it naturally flows.\u201d He gives it some thought. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit like driving, once you\u2019ve learnt how to do it, you do it automatically.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Wuthering Heights – Top Withens(Image: )\n<\/p>\n
\n Because oils take time to dry, he normally has three or four to work on. \u201cWhen one\u2019s finished, I leave it to mature for a few weeks and then come back to it and see it with a fresh eye.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n It\u2019s true to say his work is always lyrical, full of nostalgia, aspiration, love, sentiment. We find all these qualities on display in a snow-strewn Haworth or down a poppy-filled lane under moonlight, boy and girl together. See them in the children gazing longingly into the village sweet shop, by lamplight – or in the young lad trudging up Main Street, wheeling his bike.\n<\/p>\n
\n Choosing sweeties on Haworth Main Street(Image: )\n<\/p>\n
\n A frosty Top Withens under a golden sky, or again in a purpling twilight, or Bront\u00eb Bridge nearby when the heather is in bloom take you in search of the perfect moment, reflecting emotions that ordinary people can relate to.\n<\/p>\n
\n If you haven\u2019t yet discovered the great Danny Abrahams, the landscape artist guaranteed to give you the \u2018feel good glow, get yourself up to Haworth.\n<\/p>\n
\n * Would you like to recommend a Bradford artist for Andrew to interview and include in his series? If so, please email emma.clayton@nqyne.co.uk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The place to see the work of one of the country\u2019s most flamboyant and in-demand landscape artists, Danny…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-166244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}