An artist who started painting beautiful scenery of the Chorley countryside is launching his first exhibition next month.
Michael Lord lives in Withnell Fold, a village between Chorley and Blackburn, and joined an oil painting class at Cedar Farm four years ago.
The class was taught by professional artist Chris McLoughlin who has mentored and supported Mike throughout his artistic journey.
With the free time lockdown provided, Mike, 57, says painting the countryside around him allowed him a peaceful distraction from what was going on in the world.
He said: “I’ve carried on painting, and I love doing it.
"It’s the act of being creative and starting with a blank canvas with nothing on it and then trying to make something beautiful or something that I think is beautiful.
“My pictures my not necessarily be 100 per cent accurate of what I’m painting but what I’m trying to do is create a spirit of the place and a feeling I get from looking at something.”
The Chorley-based artist paints a lot of pictures of Roddlesworth Woods, Withnell Fold and Great Hill which is just outside Chorley, and uses his creativity to create something unique and imaginative.
Mike is influenced by early 20th century impressionists like Stanley Spencer and other British artists.
He said: “It’s really inspiring how they were trying to push art techniques away from true representation into a more impressionistic way and I just love that aesthetic.
“I don’t try and paint in their style because it’s important to be authentic but that is what has inspired me to paint.
“I paint to be true to myself and how I see things and how I want to show things to the world that I love.”
Before his painting, Mike spent his years looking after his children, working as a therapist, and working as a mediator for his wife’s family mediation business.
Now he does admin work from home which allows him to spend more time creating wonderful artwork.
The exhibition at Cedar Farm will be held in Chris McLoughlin’s on-site studio and is the first time Mike will be showcasing his artwork solo.
He said: “It’s going to be really good and I’m hoping that lots of people come because I’m putting myself out there which is quite scary really.
“You don’t know if people will like your stuff, but I’ve had such an amazing response already on Facebook. The number of kind comments I’ve had – people are really lovely.”
The exhibition will take place at Cedar Farm on Saturday, November 19 and Sunday, November 20.
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