Jeffrey Pratt

Jeffrey Pratt was born in 1940. Parental disapproval prevented traditional art school training. However with part time training at St Martins School of Art, and huge freelance effort, by 1986 he had begun exhibiting regularly in England and America. Jeffrey began a full time painting career ony after his children had grown up having been an antiques dealer until the age of 45.

His approach is traditional, he believes in getting close to his subject, and travels widely soaking up the atmosphere of exotic places in India, Africa and South America. He is equally at home in France where he spends weeks moving from place to place in his camper van/mobile studio.  Jeffrey has lived in rural Oxfordshire for many years on what was once a small farm. It now has 55 acres which he has with some considerable personal effort turned into a wildlife sanctuary. There are lakes which he has dug, the larger of which has a stone bridge, built for no reason, eacept as a celebration of being alive and being able to do so. There are meadows full of wild flowers, a bat sanctuary, a huge lily pond, old barns and wonderful stonework.

Jeffrey has become one of the most sought after and successful painters, with his rich use of colour, wonderful plays of light and vitality. His popularity has increased year by year with his work collected widely in the UK, USA, Canada, Singapore and Europe. Jeffrey enjoys lengthy trips to Italy, Turkey, India, Africa, Ecuador, Cuba and France which is his great source of inspiration.

As an "en plein air" painter he captures the fleeting moments, the spirit of the subject and the ever changing days in the countryside. His love of painting is such that days off are rare, relaxation is a days painting in a field of lavender or sunflowers in Provence.

"A deep, deep desire to paint, propels me despite families and financial distractions, to create gardens, lakes, sculptures anything and everything - but to paint direct from life under the sky here and everywhere is the best link to the universe and leads me closer to a happy state of infinite interconnectedness" J Pratt.