Realist paintings are jewels in the crown

These images on the page – they’re photographs of a brick wall and barges, right? Wrong!

The ivy-adorned wall and quayside scene are actually paintings by Christopher Witchall in his trademark photo-realist style, and there’s an exhibition of his artworks at Tim Clayton Jewellery Ltd in Lynn’s Chapel Street.

It is open to the public during the shop’s opening hours of 9am-5.30pm, Monday to Friday, until August 31.

The exhibition features some paintings of areas in Lynn, such as the Custom House, commissioned specifically for the event.

Mr Witchall, a full-time artist who lives with his wife near Ely, said: “My artwork is the result of two passions of mine: a love of traditional painting and drawing techniques and a fascination with the photographic image.

“Armed with a camera at all times, I photograph the world around me; recording events, familiar and unfamiliar landscapes and seascapes, urban street scenes, observations that evoke memories and (as an artist) anything visually interesting that catches my eye.

“These are not art photographs, but a personal visual journal.

“Some of these photographs become the inspiration and reference for highly detailed, realist paintings and drawings.

“They are a marriage between the language and conventions of the photographic image and the processes and techniques of depicting reality in painting and drawing.”

He studied Fine Art painting at York School of Art and Preston Polytechnic (Lancaster) in the early 1970s and has continued to paint and exhibit since.

After leaving art school he became a set builder for a repertory theatre company, before moving to London to run an art and graphics supply business. He relocated to Cambridge in 1988 to become manager and curator of The Heffer Gallery.

Christopher Witchall’s website is: http://www.christophe rwitchall.co.uk