Borough artist turns front of house into gallery to sell paintings for charity

Artist David Hoult with some of the works he has produced during lockdown

He is displaying them on the drive, in the garden and in the garage of his Cranham Avenue address this week to raise money for the borough hospital trust’s charity Three Wishes and Wigan and Leigh Hospice (WLH).

David has had a passion for painting for much of his life but has only sporadically had time to pick up his brushes until lockdown left him searching for ways to fill his time.

He now has an impressive collection of pictures of landscapes, people and animals filling his home and is looking to help a couple of good causes at the same time as selling them.

David, 73, said: “I’ve certainly never done so many paintings in one spell before. I didn’t do a lot of painting while I was working but I’ve gone a bit mad during this lockdown period.

“I dug a few old paintings that I had forgotten about out of the attic and finished them off and I’ve done others from scratch as well.

“I’m selling them off because my wife said we could hardly get in the house for them.

“Quite a few people are raising money for the NHS at the moment and they’re getting quite a bit of support, so I thought I would help the hospice as well. I’m splitting the proceeds 50-50 between them.”

This is not the first time David has used his artistic talents to help Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh (WWL) NHS Foundation Trust, for which he is also a volunteer on the helpdesk at Wigan Infirmary.

He previously contributed work to the Art for Health exhibition the hospital trust staged which involved putting paintings up in the corridors.

He paints using acrylic and ink onto canvas,hardboard and cardboard.

David says the time available in lockdown has particularly enabled him to hone his skills painting animals, with his collection of work including impressive pictures of dogs and toucans.

One of his canine canvases also has a humorous nod towards the current Covid-19 situation as it is called Isolation and features a dog looking out of a window.

He said: “I didn’t really like the business of giving paintings titles before but I’ve tried to come up with some amusing titles for these.”

Prior to lockdown David also volunteered as a gardener for the National Trust at Dunham Massey.

His outdoor and artistic pastimes are a distinct contrast to his working career in the petrochemical and nuclear industries.

To find out more about David’s art search for art.bydave on Instagram.