Terry Bridgeman

On leaving school, I was apprenticed to a local building and decorating firm, where I trained in many craft skills including signwriting. Having completed my apprenticeship, I began teaching in Bath Technical College, and this led to my leaving my home village of Midsomer Norton in Somerset to train as a teacher. As my teaching experience expanded, I became increasingly interested in working with disadvantaged children. For the next twenty years or so, I worked in residential settings with some of the most at risk children in Local Authority care.

Having not painted for many years, I began painting again in 2002, mainly as a result of being made redundant and therefore having time to re-discover my dormant interest in picture making. Once again, I began to experience the joy and excitement to be found when completely centred in the creative process.

I live on Brittens Hill in Paulton, Somerset, and am fortunate in having a small stone-built studio in which to work. My subjects are almost all taken from local landscape, generally focusing on a small area rather than a panoramic view. I also enjoy painting abstracts, which are very much conceptual although always based on something I have seen. My favourite medium is watercolour, but I also work in acrylic and mixed media.