David Beattie

David Beattie is an established artist and etcher with over twenty five years professional experience behind him. He mainly works using the acid etching process in which he has developed an international reputation for his skill and attention to detail. He also uses other media from time to time, including watercolours, gouache, pen and ink, acrylic , wood carving and more recently welded metal sculpture.

His etchings depict a wide range of subjects including rural landscapes, carousel horses, livestock and market character studies. His work has found places in galleries across Britain and abroad as well as the Royal Academy Summer Shows and Christie's Contemporary Art Catalogues. All his etchings are produced in his own studio/gallery using traditional printmaking methods which have remained unchanged in over 400 years.

David was born in Nottingham in 1955, following his A-Level studies he went on to study art and design at Loughborough College of Education from 1974 to 1977. It was during this time that he first developed an interest in the acid etching process which he went on to choose as the preferred medium for his work.

After leaving college he briefly worked for the civil service (H.M. Customs & Excise) before deciding to pursue a career as a professional artist in 1980 (the year he married Annette) specialising in etching. Throughout the 1980's he developed a reputation for himself as a highly skilled etcher and had his work accepted to numerous prestigious art galleries and catalogues. His influences during this period included sixties pop art and culture, Pablo Picasso, Henry Moore and Samuel Palmer.

In 1988 David and his young family moved to Llandygwydd, a small, quiet village near Cardigan in West Wales. David found the countryside and rural way of life presented him with a wealth of possible subject matters for his work as well as providing the ideal environment in which to work and raise his young children, Hannah, Heulwen (known as "The Frog") and Rhys ("The Boy").

The move also gave David the opportunity to establish his own private studio. Previously it had always been the spare bedroom of the houses he and Annette had lived in. Renovating the garage of his house produced both a working space and a permanent display area in which visitors could both view the works and him at work .

Today David sells much of his work directly through his own studio/gallery and by exhibiting with the Pembrokeshire Craftsmen's Circle and at various craft and agricultural shows in Wales, which also provide him with much of the inspiration for his work.