ART AT THE CENTRE OF BRITAIN
ALAN REED
One of Britain’s leading watercolourists,
Alan was born in the North of England
into a family with a history of painting,
and fell in love with watercolours
at the age of 15.
His father Kenneth Reed is the world’s
leading Golf artist and Alan’s grandfather
and great-grandfather were also artists.
Alan trained as an illustrator/graphic
designer in the North of England and
spent the early part of his career doing
artist impressions of new building
projects for architects.
Since then he has developed his own distinctive painting style that is instantly recognisable. Alan specialises in landscapes and cityscapes and his unique, fluid style captures the atmosphere of different settings from the drama of city life to the serenity and beauty of a rural landscape and studies inspired by his foreign travels. Alan and hs lovely wife Susan now run a series of very successful painting holidays based in the stunning "Chiesa del Carmine" in the Valenzino Valley 20 minutes north of Perugia, in the heart of Italy.
In the Garden Suite are four sailing ships which all visited Newcastle in the Tall Ships Race of 1986. These are
DAR MLODZIEZY (Poland) Sail Training Ship 1986
EENDRACHT (Netherlands) 2 masted Schooner 1974
FALKEN (Sweden) 2 masted training Schooner
KRUZENSTERN (Russia) 4 Masted Barque 1926
In the Pele Tower is "Bellister Castle" commissioned in 1987 when we moved in there. The painting of the Centre of Britain Hotel is from 1996 and was created to show the new presentation of the Hotel after renovation.
Up the staircase is an extensive collection of Alan's print series of Northumbland Castles and Scenes from Newcastle. Alan's latest watercolour for us is "The Spirit of the Centre of Britain" - a view combining features of the three great epochs of the area- Lamley Viaduct (Industrial Revolution) - Featherstoine Castle (Border Reivers) and "The Three Sisters at Walltown Crags (Roman), over which Hadrian's Wall is routed.
