Brian Jamison - Blakley's Glorious Traditions.

I commissioned my one time school colleague and now great friend Brian Jamison to paint a street scene of an Orange Parade along Greenwell Street Newtownards involving - well I will tell you more in a later post, at this point the painting is 2/3 complete.

A little about Brian - Brian Jamison is a well known and highly respected local artist from the town land of Ballywatticock, which lies on the outskirts of Newtownards, Co. Down. Brian has established a fine reputation by the quality of his work and is noted for his meticulous attention to detail. Living deep in the countryside and close to the shores of Strangford Lough, Brian has been inspired by his surroundings and his love for the traditional way of life. He strives to capture through art, many aspects of rural county life such as music, animals, wildlife and country sports, which he regularly enjoys.

Over the years as his passion for painting has grown and his desire to paint many diverse subjects has developed, Brian is equally at home painting on canvas, stones or old milk churns. His paintings have included family pets, animals, tractors, farm yard or wild life scenes such as pheasants and wildfowl, however recent commissions have included famed motor cycle racers, a WW1 scene of the 36th Ulster Division “Going over the top” at the Battle of the Somme and various Ulster Scots topics.

Brian is one to relish any painting challenge and recently had been asked to paint two lambeg drums. Both drums are shown in this book “Auld Samuel” a portrait of Samuel Cully of Portavogie, and “Prudence” a drum depicting the old Greenwell Street Presbyterian Church, Newtownards. Keeping with this theme, Brian is seen here completing a street scene named “Blakley's Glorious Traditions”. It was commissioned by Mark Anderson and shows a typical “Twelfth Scene” in Newtownards, including the Fife & Lambeg Drum.

Brian holds tremendous pride in his work; he carefully plans all his paintings and spends many painstaking hours adding minute detail to his work, as he strives for artistic perfection.

HMA