From the York Road South of Aldborough

John Arbon RMS | Acrylic on Cotton | 3.5 x 2 inches

Born 1955, the first encounter with ‘serious art’ was through the efforts of his CSE exam teacher, Gerry Blood FRSA, who in 1971 took pity on his unsuitability for sixth form education and nudged him in to Mansfield Art College, his formal education ending three years later when he opted not to take up the offer of a place on a BA Fine Art course at Kingston-upon-Hull, starting work as a designer/draughtsman of machine embroidery for a Nottingham firm of textile engineers.
Then in 1979 he began a 30 year career as a cartographic draughtsman for the British Geological Survey. In an environment now ruled by the keyboard and the mouse, John was fortunate to be trained in the use of pen and ink, and the discipline of making marks on paper in the correct place at the first attempt (usually). During this period he exhibited paintings at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions of 1981 and 1991. Quitting employment by taking early retirement at the end of 2009.
Primarily a landscape painter, in 1999 with his wife’s encouragement, John ‘downsized’ and began painting miniatures, exhibiting first locally and then at the biannual Miniature fairs at the Birmingham NEC, seeing and admiring the work of fellow miniaturists. 2005 marked his first inclusion in the annual Royal Miniature Society exhibition; 2006 brought his election to Associate Member and then full membership in 2011. Showing regularly at the RMS he took the Llewellyn Alexander Subject Miniature Award in 2013 and the People’s Choice Award in 2016.

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