Artist statement: Gary Power I was born in Islington in 1965 of Irish parents. My initial creative interests had been in acting and poetry. This changed in 1985 when I began to work with the Hampstead based artist and art teacher Ruth Liebman. Ruth recognised a natural tonal quality to my work and I was inspired by her constructive and enthusiastic guidance. From 1987 - 1990 I completed a Fine Art Painting Degree course at the City and Guilds of London Art School in Kennington. This gave me a good professional grounding. After leaving college I decided to focus on watercolour landscapes, painted directly from life. This approach I find both inspiring and exciting. About 20 years ago I started back with oil painting. I found my love of the incidental while painting in the streets. I'm always inspired by changing seasons. Painting very close to home gives one a sense of how interconnected we are to community. My paintings are in collections in Europe, the United States, Japan, Canada as well as the United Kingdom. My work has been exhibited with the Royal Watercolour Society at the Bankside Gallery, the Bishopsgate Institute, the Barbican Library and for a number of years at Cross St Gallery.