Chris Steer

Chris moved here from the Windsor area in 1997 having retired from the computer industry in which he worked for the Americans for nearly 30 years. It was while he was working as a young man at London University he came across the Cautauld Gallery just off of Gordan square in London which was a part of the University in those days. He spent most of his lunch breaks in the gallery and was fascinated by the paintings by Rubens, Titian, Rembrandt, and many other old masters. He decided there and then that one day he would study the old masters until hopefully he could paint using the same methods they used all those years ago.  In 1997 he began with some copies  of the old masters, but he found it very hard going in oils with light and shade, wet in wet, and colour too that just complicated everything. In 2007 he had a breakthrough after exactly ten years of hard work, it finally paid off, he can now paint using the same methods of the old masters, although he says he is not as good as an old master.