Artist Graham Lilley, a patient at our Evegate branch at Smeeth, has some of his paintings of the Ashford area hanging on the clinic walls.
The watercolours are all for sale and Mr Lilley will rotate his paintings which are mainly landscapes,.
Mr Lilley has lived in Ashford since he was six weeks old after his mother moved there in the 1940s during the war. He started painting by accident following a stay in hospital in the 1980s when he was told he couldn’t do anything energetic while he was recovering. He took up painting and started with wildlife – mainly owls.
Inspired
A friend, Steve Hall, an accomplished watercolour artist, helped him with his painting, giving him advice and Mr Lilley produced many paintings of animals. He then did very little painting until he retired in 2000, by which time he had branched out into landscapes and seascapes. in 2006 he started teaching schoolchildren how to paint in watercolour.
Others became interested and his teaching grew. From there Mr Lilley began holding demonstration evenings for painting. He also holds occasional exhibitions in local venues.
Mr Lilley says he is inspired by anything around him and adds: “You have got to feel it. I like to create dimension, as if you can walk into the painting, creating depth.”
Painting demonstrations
He never stops learning and he still goes to classes and painting demonstrations.
Mr Lilley said his audiologist Hannah Harris at our Evegate clinic had been so good at getting his hearing much better. “I hope the clients like the first three paintings and I will be changing them as required,” Mr Lilley said.
Mr Lilley’s watercolours can be seen on the walls of our Evegate clinic
Metford Building (Unit 8), Evegate Business Park, Smeeth, Ashford, TN25 6SX
Mr Lilley may be contacted by email at grahamlilley@invictamail.com