The publication of All By Myself coincides with a
one-man show at London’s Mall Galleries and offers
the chance for the 65-year-old artist to look back on a
successful career to date, which included being elected to
the New English Art Club and the Royal Society of Portrait
Painters, as well as being shortlisted for the John Player
Portrait Award (now the BP Portrait Award) back in 1989.
He has also been instrumental in helping along the
careers of many other painters after he founded what isnow the Bath Artists’ Studios in 1996.
It began life in a disused primary
school before moving to its current
home in the Old Malthouse, where it
became the biggest provider of work
spaces for artists in the city with
gallery space and more than 50
studios. David had his own studio
in the complex until 2013 when he
moved to the Wiltshire town of Devizes.
Looking to the future, he is asking
some big questions about the
materials he uses in the light of the
climate crisis, and is even considering
doing more work in digital media.
“On one level painting pictures is a
very strange obsession,” he says. “It’s
an escape from real life and it’s been
great therapy, but one of the things
I’m thinking about at the moment is
how we might be contributing to
global warming. Maybe digital imagery
is a more environmentally-friendly way
of making pictures. These things are
buzzing in my head, and I’m looking
forward to seeing where I go from here.”
One thing is clear, however: as far
as David is concerned, there is no
substitute for hard work, studying
and practise – and whatever path
he takes next, great draughtsmanship will underpin it.
“People ask me how they can improve, and I say: throw
the camera away and draw. Draw day in, day out until you
become able to do it and to do it well. The most talented
artists in the world don’t just drop out of the sky. It takes
a lot of effort, and you’ve got to put that time in.”
David’s exhibition, All By Myself, runs from 10-15 September
at Mall Galleries, London SW1. The book, All By Myself, will be
published by Sansom & Company. http://www.davidcobley.comABOVE Summer ’71,
oil on board,
95x61.5cm
People ask me
how they can
improve, and I say:
throw the camera
away and draw