About David Starley Artist

David Starley Oil painter and owner of The Bingley Gallery

Biography

David Starley first studied art at Sydney University whilst working in a steel foundry, but then chose to follow a career in archaeology, before becoming a professional artist. He is a member of the Aire Valley Arts Group. David’s subjects explore the natural landscape of Yorkshire and beyond, with trees as the central focus of much of his work. Whilst trees are familiar objects in our environment, they are too easily passed without attention. By portraying the forms and character of individual trees, or groups in woodland, the viewer is led to a greater appreciation of these living structures – changeless yet changing, strong yet vulnerable, never to be taken for granted.

Oil paint is very thickly applied (impastp) with a painting knife to produce a three-dimensional, almost sculpted, image. This not only adds great depth but produces a surface that responds subtly to the changing light of the environment in which the work is displayed. David has exhibited widely in Yorkshire and beyond, as a solo artist and as a member of the Aire Valley Arts Group, artistic influences include the Canadian, Tom Thomson; Australian, Arthur Streeton, and Corot and his fellow painters of the French Barbizon School. David’s style, however, remains unique and his greatest inspiration comes from nature itself.