Collection: John Lines RSMA

John Lines was born in 1938 in Rugby Warwickshire, where he still lives. He studied art at Rugby Polytechnic from 1959 and then at York School of Art from 1961 to 1962. John may be one of the most senior artists in our stable, but his appetite for painting has not diminished in the slightest. He is right at the top of his game, remaining one of the very finest exponents of our craft and looked up to by many a younger painter as a true master.  There is never any doubt that a John Lines painting is by him, and many of them feature his trademark, quirky figures, often with a nondescript terrier running, or straining at the leash. Painted en plein air, all his paintings tell a story and have great titles that invariably make the viewer smile or sometimes laugh out loud. John often seeks out the backstreets of towns, painting what you might think would be dreary subjects, but under his masterly touch, he makes them sing with life, even when painted on a dull, rainy day as they often are.  Besides John’s urban and industrial paintings, he paints the British countryside as well as anyone I know, and don’t be fooled by his humorous titles - he is a true genius, saying all without painting everything, he shows but doesn’t tell - a rare gift indeed.  John paints marine subjects too, and he is a member of the Royal Society of Marine Artists, and has won awards at several of the annual major open Art Society exhibitions. I am especially honoured to have John’s paintings gracing our Gallery walls, as he has been a great influence on me, being one of my favourite painters; I own four of them myself!

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