In the face of having little if any encouragement from his school careers advisors, who dismissed the very notion of him becoming ‘an artist’ as essentially, sheer folly, it’s testament to his creativity and unswerving work ethic that respected Bristol-born contemporary artist, Doug Hyde actually answered his natural calling in life, and since gone on to be recognized as the most popular contemporary living artist in Britain today. But then Hyde is nothing if not passionate and single-minded in his approach to his art, and his conveying of family sentiment and its place in a modern society.
Hyde’s work has been described in various glowing terms, but to us a collection of simplistic words best embodies his works of art. Words like fun, warm, inviting, comfortable, safe, playful, enveloping, fun and fulfilling. Hyde successfully collates the recreates the haven of traditional family values through his works, drawing volumes from characterizations of family, friends, companions, pets, animals and toys, and capturing them all with love and pastels.
It therefore comes as no surprise to learn that it’s his stable, nurturing, loving family life and growing up during the 1970s that fundamentally shaped his outlook on what can be at time, a very cold, calculating world outside our windows. Framing his childhood memories and experiences was his involvement with his disabled older sister, and being in the company of other disabled children during his formative years. Sensing that tight-knit togetherness and loyalty to one another, and striving to achieve in ways that leave the rest of us standing. Through this, Hyde inherited and quickly developed an almost animated love of life, and foretold a healthy optimism and addictive positivity that shines through in but all his paintings to this day.
Hyde left school and gained employment in a draughtsman’s office where he was taught to technically draw, yet his further education in the field of technical illustration came at college. However, as much as this held Hyde’s interest to begin with, he couldn’t help but feel it wasn’t the outlet that his attributes and breezy approach to art needed to flourish. There was an element of being shackled which didn’t suit, and required addressing.
So Hyde embarked on painting and selling his own works, at first to family and friends, latterly being invited to exhibit on a more regional basis. His stock as an up-and-coming artist was soon rising, and although he was completing works in his spare time to begin with, he eventually turned professional as an artist and concentrated his efforts and considerable talent in this one area; with pastels being his chosen creative sword. Indeed, Hyde creates his visually engaging, highly coloured, infinitely charming works that establish and epitomise family and relationships at the crux of everything, by employing more than just his fingers. More often than not he commits the pastels to canvas courtesy of his thumbs, wrists, the sides of his palms and varying degrees of limb, to achieve what Hyde believes to be a more real interpretation.
It’s the reality of the process which led to the finished piece as much as the finished article itself that engenders debate amongst fans and collectors of Hyde’s work, and something he actively encourages, almost provoking this degree of feedback. Hyde also takes time to visualize just how the room will look where the piece will sit, before embarking on the artistic journey itself. He needs to feel how it will relate to its immediate surrounds and convey its message within this interior context. It’s a policy he’s adopted since he started creating art professionally over a decade ago. Hyde also keeps an ‘ideas box’, which is like a visual memory bank for storing all the creative concepts he has, prior to execution. Basically streaming his conscious and putting it to one sided until a later date to pillage.
Celebrated for his fund-raising prowess for a couple of charitable organisations he feels strongly for, ‘Look Good…Feel Better’ and ‘Families For Children’, Hyde in 2005 was awarded the art industry honour of being the Best Selling Published Artist by the Fine Art Trade Guild.
