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November 2022

How early in life did you discover you had an artistic gift?
At school, at around the age of 10 years old, my love of art developed with a teacher at my prep school called Jenny Trussell. Her lessons were the highlight of my week. I can still visualise her infectious smile and the tasks she set us in her classes took me on wonderful imaginary journeys. I owe her a huge debt of gratitude… how lucky to have been in her classes… she was a truly inspiring teacher. The path to artist was a direct route from that time.

Where did you grow up and how did it have an influence on your vintage style?
Born in London but moved to Dubai at six weeks old back in the 1970’s, the pre-tourist boom… a time of adventure, Arabian Nights, sand dunes, empty desert roads and Beduin encampments. My parents’ house was in the Al Bastakiya district, I was raised in a household by parents with creative flair. My Father has eclectic interests, an eccentric soul, inspired by object d’art with esoteric provenance and likes jovial banter. My Mother was in her youth, a ballerina, touring Europe with various productions, and later in life an artist and all-round elegant aesthete. She encouraged my early artistic leanings. My Father travelled around the world throughout my childhood, generously bringing back gifts from places like China, Russia, Mongolia, Ukraine, and so on. With his help, I started collecting hats from all these regions and the hat theme has transcended into the paintings I create today, although with a more British style.

Do you listen to music while you paint? What is your mood during the process?
An insightful question. Soft classical music sets a suitable atmosphere when I’m using pencil and paper to sketch out compositions based on scenes I would like to paint or commissions for clients. Ideas can be developed without too much distraction. As the painting evolves , the larger pieces may require more time if there are many elements to the narrative, I may listen to an audio book or a YouTube interview. The most exciting part is then reaching the completion of a painting. Visual balances and harmonies hopefully become evident. Details added, highlights, glazes added for depth of colour and tone. It’s such an exciting time when the painting really comes together – I like to listen to something bold, dramatic and stirring, usually fairly loudly.

What is your approach to a painting – from sketch to completion? How do you go about your composition? What paints, brushes, and canvases do you use?
As partly alluded to in the previous question, an idea starts with a pencil and paper sketch. If it’s a themed artwork commission like Futuretrack 5 or a portrait, I arrange the contents in the scene within a series of pencil sketches each with a compositional variation. I can then discuss with the client their preferred layout. Once agreed, I then progress to the painting stage, mapping out the composition onto a linen canvas with oil paints. The canvas has a fine weave and is produced in Flanders in Belgium. The oils are produced by Michael Harding, they have a high pigment load, mixed using techniques dating back to the old masters , they are vibrant and do not contain fillers.

How long does it take you to complete a painting? How do you know when it is finished?
There have been times when it has taken up to a year from inception to completion of a piece, particularly if I have been working with a client on a complex large canvas although this is very unusual. Most of the medium size paintings take between 2- 4 weeks to complete. Smaller paintings can take a few days, it really depends on how much details there are. I do like to add a highlight here and there or add a slight colour glaze if a canvas has been hanging in my studio for a few weeks. When is a painting ever finished? Good question. I guess when one is happy enough with the result to the point of being able to show it to other people with a sense of pride.

How did your career as an artist begin? What was the one painting that helped catapult you into the limelight?
After leaving school, I attended a three-year training program in Italy. That gave me some technical skills which I used to start a career in portraiture, initially working on portraits of family and friends, acquaintances, then developing into commissions from people I didn’t know. By this point, I had signed up with an agent who kindly suggested I should be put forward for a casting on a TV show. I was chosen, with two others, to paint a celebrity. We started the portraits at the famous London Palladium (a huge west end theatre owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber), where the celebrity sitter, Cilla Black, had appeared in the Royal Variety Performance. The program showed our progress and techniques from start to finish. The final reveal was at The Royal Academy. Cilla chose one portrait to take home with her. As my version rendered and focused on her best features, she took it home with her. Maybe this painting helped change my creative trajectory. This followed up with a solo show in the wonderful Albemarle Gallery run and owned by the real-life legend Tony Pontoni, who gave me my first break into the main London contemporary art scene. Thank you, Tony, if you are reading this. After a few solo shows at the Albemarle, interest picked up initially on the West coast in Carmel, Pebble Beach, and San Fransisco and then Boston and Scottsdale, followed by Marbella in Spain and The Netherlands. Although I have been offered shows in Russia, I look forward to maybe visiting the country before committing to that location.

What artist do you admire the most and why?
I go through phases of influences, I’m really inspired by film, I love Alfred Hitchcock. Also, artists like Windslow Homer, his narrative power is extraordinary, having just visited his Forces of Nature show at the National Gallery London, I was left transfixed by pieces like “The Gulf Stream” and “The Life Line”.

Based on your experience, what professional advice can you give others?
My reply would vary depending on what stage of the creative journey the person might be on. Generally, I would suggest pursuing all avenues of interest in your chosen creative field, listen to your gut feeling. Always be open to learning more about artists you like, their technics and their biographies. Celebrate your individuality, never compromise. The narrative and provenance of an idea is valuable.

If you are approaching galleries to partner with, make sure they represent your type of work, there is no point in being a French abstract painter and applying to a US focused realist gallery. Work hard, never give up, there will be times when you go down the wrong road, keep strong and get back on the right track. Always try to improve. Time is precious, use it well. Celebrate and enjoy your successful pieces, I like to think of the artworks I create as my legacy to future generations of my family, as Stanley H Barkan said, ‘As Yet Unborn’, hopefully it may inspire them in some way.

For more information, please visit: peregrineheathcote.com

Instagram: @peregrineheathcote

Apr 18- May 2018 Realism Then and Now, Cavalier Galleries, New York
February 14th – 20th, 2018 Cavalier Galleries Palm Beach Jewelry Art & Antique Show.
Nov 14, 2017- Jan 1st 2018 Group Show Cavalier Galleries , Greenwich, CT
29th December, 2017 – 23rd January, 2018 Solo Show “Apples of The Moon” at Bonner David Galleries, Scottsdale, AZ
22nd April- June 28th, 2017 “A retrospective”, Solo exhibition, Thame Museum, Oxfordshire, UK
26th April- May 20th, 2017 “Pursuant Dreams”, Solo show , Newbury Fine Arts, Boston
February 15 2017 Palm Beach Art and Antique show with Cavalier Galleries
December 29, 2016 – January 17, 2017 – “Flights of Fancy” Solo show at Bonner David, Scottsdate AZ
1 Dec 2016 Palm Beach jewellery and Design Fair with the Cavalier Galleries
1 Sep 2016 Group Show Cavalier Galleries
4th August, 2016 ART ASPEN Bonner David Galleries
Jun 20th, 2016 New Arrivals mixed show Cavalier Galleries
12 Jan 2016 ART Miami with the Cavalier Galleries
Dec 14 2015 New Works solo show Bonner David Galleries AZ
July 22nd 2015 Solo show at Newbury Fine Art “Near and Far”
23rd October 2014 ART Toronto Thompsons Gallery
Jul 10th ‘Hang 10’ group show Bonner David Galleries AZ
03/2013 Bonner David Galleries, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
03/2013 Bonner David Galleries, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
01/2013 Bonner David Galleries Solo Show, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
11/2012 Bonner David Galleries, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
03/2012 Bonner David Galleries, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
02/2012 Newbury Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
01/2012 Bonner David Galleries Solo Show, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
02/2011 Newbury Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
12/2010 Bonner David Galleries Solo Show, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
09/2010 Bonner David Galleries, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
02/2010 Newbury Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
10/2009 Bonner David Galleries, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
07/2009 Albemarle Gallery, London, Solo Exhibition
01/2009 Campton Gallery, Solo Exhibition, New York, USA
2008 Caldwell -Snyder Solo Exhibition, San Francisco, USA
2008 Sammer Gallery, Solo Exhibition, Marbella
2007 Albemarle Gallery, Solo Exhibition
2006 Albemarle Gallery, Solo Exhibition
2006 Christie’s Auctioneers, King Street, London, England
BBC Documentary on Peregrine
2005 Albemarle Gallery, Solo Exhibition
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters
2004 The Royal Academy of Art Summer Exhibition
2004 Royal Society of British Artists
ING Selective Eve
Hampton Court, Exhibition of Portraits
New Grafton Gallery
Whittington Fine Art, Henley upon Thames
Earl of March’s Estate, Goodwood
Still Life Show, St. Helier, Jersey
Guildhall, London
Gmex, Manchester
Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco, Vermeer, Solo Show
Ritz-Carlton, London, Five Years of Portraits, Solo Show
Carlyle Gallery, London
2002 Chesham Private Gallery, Solo Still Life / Landscape Show
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters
2000 Ackermann & Johnson Gallery, Knightbridge, Solo Show

Selected Recent Portraits

Julian Fellows, Screenplay writer and Oscar Winner
BBC portrait of UK celebrity Cilla Black
Various Commissions for the Sultan of Oman
Prince Jeffrey of Brunei
Lord and Lady Rees-Mogg
The Duke and Duchess of St. Albans
Lord Selsdon
The Earl of Bradford
The Countess of Effingham
Justin Simpson and family
Senior Partner, Morgan Stanley Roger Davis
CEO Barclays UK Banking
Ian Henderson, CEO Land Securities
Mike Strong, CEO CB Richard Ellis
Divia Cadbury

For more information, please visit: peregrineheathcote.com

Instagram: @peregrineheathcote