Wardlow & Grace, a tale of art and love!
Do you ever check-in with your thoughts – or your life. Do you look back at all the experiences you have had? The places you have been? Where you are now? Do you ever complete a task, or fulfil a dream and look back to when it first started?
Preparing for an adventure in some distant place, begins long before the trip. a picture or a spoken word can set you off – thinking, some research, discussions, planning and travel – all happen before you even arrive. A wonderful meal requires a thought, planning, shopping, prepping and cooking, before the delight of tasting the finished product. As an artist, we have ideas for paintings long before they take form. Sometimes many years before. we make sketches, write notes, buy brushes and palette knives, paper, expensive canvas, paints, pencils, an easel, tape, clips, frames, hanging cord, packaging materials. All this, long before the painting is sold.
Looking back at Wardlow & Grace (aka Duncan and Lesley), it began in early 2020. Through a mutual friend, we began group video chats with some mutual friends. Life continued with it’s interesting twists and turns in between those calls.
We were living in different corners of England and doing our own thing. Late in 2021 things changed slightly when Duncan and Lesley met in person and their love began to grow. (We actually met in North Yorkshire but that’s splitting hairs). After many chats and phone calls, we decided to join forces and that’s when Wardlow & Grace came into the world. An idea which we both embraced enthusiastically, where we would be producing art together. Oh, did I mention that we moved to Lincolnshire too?
We both still work on our individual projects but are currently developing our ‘Perceptions’ series. Perceptions – where 2 or more people can experience the same happening, but observe or react differently. We take the same subject matter and produce our own interpretation of it. With exciting results.
Perceptions, the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses.’
As humans, we all see, hear, feel and subsequently act differently to varying stimulus. The latest Wardlow & Grace project sees Duncan Wardlow and Lesley Grace collaborate and explore the different ways the world looks to each and every individual. Two artists, when given the same subject, can express themselves in very different ways – just as people see things differently in everyday life.
Wardlow and Grace are international artists, using experimental and contrasting techniques to create art work, both bespoke and inspired, for customers around the globe. Having honed their skills for decades, the finesse and quality of this latest collaboration sees their artwork at its finest.
Sharing an incredibly similar sense of humour, a love for art and the exploration of different mediums, Wardlow & Grace have decided to collaborate professionally to extend their relationship on an artistic level. Now sharing an art studio, the connection between Duncan and Lesley is at its strongest and creates the foundations for this exciting, explorative project.
‘Wardlow & Grace: Perceptions’ is exhibiting to showcase Duncan and Lesley’s paintings of the same subject and as a way of communicating the natural human ability to see things in different ways; given background, life experiences, mood and so on.
To start, the natural world will be the main focus of this body of work. As with any artwork journey, where they will look for inspiration next is unknown. Explore their journey so far.