Denis Ferguson lives and works in Cookstown, County Tyrone, on the edge of the eastern Sperrin Mountains. Having been head of a large Art & Design department for many years, he decided 7 years ago to pursue his own painting career. He has exhibited both at home and abroad and also works to commission.
Artist's Statement
My work is very diverse in its range of themes, which include music, dance, opera, sport, the work of Old Masters, and landscape in a broad sense. Approaches may be fairly literal or more abstracted, loose/expressive or carefully controlled as the subject demands.
Technically, I favour oil on canvas, pen and watercolour, pen and wash, and pastels, and may use some or all of these in developing a theme. ‘Music & Musicians’, and work influenced by recent visits to Italy, for example, are each treated in a variety of styles. The former are mostly to do with the playing of music i.e. the relationship between person, instrument and the tune being played.
The Italian theme uses sculptural and architectural forms, some famous, some unknown, but which provide food for the imagination; some paintings contain only glimpses of things seen or remembered and try to create a sense of place.