Ian Ribbons Art: May 2011

Thames and nearby

We lived near the river, Ian would often be off before anyone else was awake to capture the morning sun over the Thames. We had Chelsea Wharf nearby, and Lotts Road with its junkyard, and these were also frequently painted.

Lotts Road

Sunrise over the Thames

Chelsea Wharf

Across the Thames

King's Road at night

London markets - early morning views

As well as being a favourite subject of Ian's, these are some of my favourite images with the morning light flaring off pavements, silhouetted shapes and hulking figures in constant movement...

The Antiques Roadshow video

The BBC kindly agreed to let me use a section of the program and sent it to me on disk - so here's the video of Ian on the Antique's Roadshow...

About this blog

Ian was a fantastic artist who focused on light and movement, drawing and painting wherever he went - fascinated by a detail on a building or the look on someone's face, out would come the pad, and a record was swiftly made. As well as painting and drawing scenes and people all over Europe, Ian illustrated profusely, often using pen and ink to distil the essence of a scene.

Ian also wrote and illustrated his own books, including a fantastic series of 'One Day in History' titles such as the Battle of Trafalgar book which is mentioned in the link above. These books used an innovative eyewitness approach to history and were very successful at the time.

Since Ian died in 2002 much of his work has lain uncatalogued and unseen in my house in Swanage and that of his other son, Mortimer Ribbons, in London. This website is at long last a serious attempt to begin the recording and annotating of his art, aided I hope by people who knew him and his work. Although there is much missing from this first 'edition', I hope eventually to make as complete a record as possible of his work.

Initially I'm hoping to record the comments of people who new Ian and his art. For this reason I have decided to present Ian's work in blog format, to facilitate the process of receiving information from viewers who might have some story to tell about a particular picture, or perhaps just a general comment about Ian or his art.

In due course this site may transform into a proper archive of Ian's work, and I hope one day it may lead to an exhibition in London, which was Ian's home and inspiration for many years.

Shannon

www.ribbonsart.co.uk

Pages

Thames and nearby

London markets - early morning views

The Antiques Roadshow video