Spare’s drypoints are poetic graphic statements that instantly communicate the beauty of time and place and nature. Familiarity doesn’t diminish this beauty … these images are layered in a subtle manner giving the viewer the desire to gaze into each picture to absorb a calming harmony and to be transported to another place.

It first appears that Richard Spare’s chosen medium of hand coloured aggressive drypoint is best suited to organic subject matter such as his flowers, birds and animals but he has employed it successfully in his portrayal of the sun drenched summer sea-side habour villages of southern England and France.

Richard Spare’s drypoints take us to another place. In the same way that centuries earlier Orientalism took most of its audience to another world, so Richard Spare takes us on holidays to the sun drenched summerness of Cornish fishing villages or the south of France … and in it’s simplest form, one can extract warmth and joy from the colourful richness of his birds and floral arrangements. This is the joy of being Richard Spare.