After an eventful and difficult year on a personal level i am getting back on track and once again full of enthusiasm for my work , i hope to keep this web site better updated in future and more current.

I was recently elected Vice President of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters by my fellow members so have been very involved in our recent annual show which was a great success, more details about the ROI can be obtained from www.theroi.org. The ROI is one of this country's finest art societies and stands as a bench mark for the encouragement of excellence in the oil painting medium.

Portraits remain a regular part of my output and i have been receiving regular commissions, my approach is very much to work at a picture until it is finished over a couple of days rather than numerous sittings as i aim for the freshness that results in finishing in 'one wet'. I can often complete a head and shoulders in one day. I am very keen on informality in portraits and also like to include a background that tells of the life of my sitter.

I am looking forward to looking again at the English beach scene this year and country shows, chicken houses/allotments have been catching my eye. Although i have never smoked and don't miss the smell i have to say that many pubs have lost a bit of the gritty quality that i have enjoyed painting in the past and i am still keen to paint more grubby pub interiors. Railways as always catch my eye and i am thinking that i have enough work for a book covering the contemporary railway and in particular my involvement with the railway company EWS, so that maybe a project before long.

My fourth Childrens book in the Rachael the Railway Horse series entitled 'A Smashing Bun' is nearly ready for publication. A fair amount of my time is now devoted to the promotion of the books and i have my collection of vintage vehicles and the now quite elderly but still healthy Truman the Shire Horse to assist in this activity. Please feel free to get in touch in touch if you have any enquiries.

Ian Cryer