‘I left the A303 and followed the A30 down a dead straight Roman road to Stockbridge then along the old drover’s road towards Salisbury. I began to recognise the distinctive local features, the gentle rolling hills, the trees silhouetted against the sky, and I knew I was entering Phipps country.’
Howard Phipps has long been a favourite engraver of ours, and this beautiful depiction of a footbridge at Bishopstone in Wiltshire appeared back in Slightly Foxed issue 26. Our friends at The Rowley Gallery paid Howard a visit to explore the wonderful landscape that inspires his work, and you can read the full account on their excellent blog.
About the contributor
Howard Phipps studied painting and printmaking at the Gloucestershire College of Art. He is now based near Salisbury and is probably best known for his drawings and engravings of the chalk downs of Wiltshire and Dorset. The artist has been a frequent exhibitor at Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions since 1985, and was elected a member of the Society of Wood Engravers in 1985. Howard Phipps has work in many permanent collections including The Ashmolean Museum, Cheltenham Art Gallery, Bournemouth, Exeter and Salisbury Museums, and The Kenneth Green Library at Manchester Metropolitan University. In 2009 The British Museum acquired twelve of his engravings for its collection. The artist has also illustrated books for several publishers including Bloomsbury, The Folio Society, and The Fleece Press, and has had a longstanding collaboration with fine press publishers The Whittington Press.