About the artist

Colin Wood

My sense of time has shifted as I grow older; it now feels, and is, a bit more fragile and definitely finite.

I hope my paintings capture this awareness: the quiet reckoning of time folding softly into memory.

Through my art, I try to express and explore the tension between permanence and loss, between the lingering beauty of what remains and the inevitable closing chapters we all face. The English poet, Philip Larkin, who I only discovered for myself about 5 years ago, felt this first in his thirties, growing ever more acute in his forties.

Superficially this sounds morose, but to me it feels cathartic, that is the power of art to express and almost revel in the experience of still growing. In many ways creating is a meditation on mortality, on the preciousness of the present, and for me, on the strange comfort found when the past and the present meet — even if only for a moment.

I’m self-taught with a background in art education—although I trained to teach art, my career path took an unexpected turn into engineering. Perhaps that’s part of why I’m drawn to watercolour: it rewards thoughtful planning, which suits the way I approach painting.

I live in Woking, Surrey—England’s most wooded county—and trees often find their way into my work.

I am a member of Pirbright Art Club, Guildford Art Society and Chobham Art Group.

From time to time I exhibit with Village Artists  a group of local artists showcasing our art together at local venues including regular appearances at Denbies Wine Estate Gallery.

If you have any thoughts or questions, please feel free to get in touch using the contact form below. Thanks for visiting, Colin

Recent successes and awards

Village Artists / May 2025 / Denbies Wine Estate Gallery, Dorking

Public vote winner with 'An evening is coming in' and 2nd place with 'No birds'.

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours 213th Exhibition / May 2025 / The Mall Galleries, London

'No birds' selected for the exhibition.

Pirbright Art Club Annual Exhibition / Dec 2024 / Lord Pirbright's Hall, Pirbright

Public vote winner with 'Larkin on TV' and 2nd place with 'No birds'.

Pirbright Art Club Annual Exhibition/ Dec 2019 / Lord Pirbright's Hall, Pirbright

Public vote winner with 'The edge of everything'.