Ken Howard Watercolours in Academe

Ken Howard Watercolours in Academe is based on diary Malcolm Horton, kept in late 1999 when he was accompanying Ken Howard to Tennessee to fulfil a week long commission to produce 3(three) watercolour paintings of the beautiful gothic style University of the South in Sewanee near Chattanooga.

Perhaps a more appropriate title would have been “Portrait of an Artist” because it is not only a portrayal of an artist at work and his technique but also the artist as a man of many other talents, great raconteur, marketing skills, astute business man, and an ability to inspire others. The obituaries accompany this book from Fellow artists bear witness to these skills.

Being a great raconteur, as already mentioned, during that memorable week in Tennessee he spoke of many things both artistic and secular. Not only was his art figurative but also his views on life in general.

He was no shrinking violet locked away in a Garrett he went out and experienced life to the full. Whether it be as Official War Artist in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, or traipsing the Himalayas in Burma or following Turners footsteps in Switzerland, he did it all. And it showed in his paintings and allowed him to shed a light and perspective on subjects that immediately made them recognisable as a “Ken Howard painting”.

This book with its closely observed diary in some small way tries to convey qualities that made Ken Howard the unique man and artist he was.