This is the official website of the British painter Denis Ryan, a member of the Royal Watercolour Society. To view his paintings, please click on the Gallery link above. To see his print series, follow the Alphabet link.
I work from my own photographs, the urban environment offering me a lot of raw material. The current neon series has the metal, glass, stainless steel and strong colours that I find both a pleasure and a challenge to paint.
I hope the strong composition and my palette, along with the interesting light sources, which play a pivotal part in all my paintings, create the desired impact, producing a painting full of visual excitement.
Denis was born in London and studied for an MA in Fine Art at Watford, Hornsey and Ravensbourne colleges of art.
In 2008 he was elected a member of the Royal Watercolour Society (RWS).
His career began in film animation and, later, illustration. Successfully combining both he worked on award-winning films as well as numerous TV and film commercials.
Having worked in commercial art since leaving art school he is now painting for himself fulltime. He exhibits with the RWS and has exhibited in Cork Street, the Royal Academy, Mayfair and internationally in Italy, China and the USA (Charleston, Texas and the OK Harris Gallery in New York, home of realist painting).
Denis fills notebooks with sketches and ideas on his travels, collecting collage material and taking many photographs. He has a strong emotional attachment to the city and the recurrent motifs in many of his paintings reflect this, particularly his recent series of neon signs.