Ifor Pritchard (1940 - 9 October 2010) was an artist and former art teacher predominantly at Ysgol Syr Hugh Owen, Caernarfon in North Wales, retiring in 1992. His paintings mostly drew on his childhood in the North Wales village of

Carmel Carmel may refer to: * Carmel (biblical settlement), an ancient Israelite town in Judea * Mount Carmel, a coastal mountain range in Israel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea * Carmelites, a Roman Catholic mendicant religious order Carmel may also ...

Gwynedd Gwynedd (; ) is a county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Anglesey over the Menai Strait, and C ...

and his memories of the local

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environ ...

. Working with

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

and using an

impasto ''Impasto'' is a technique used in painting, where paint is laid on an area of the surface thickly, usually thick enough that the brush or painting-knife strokes are visible. Paint can also be mixed right on the canvas. When dry, impasto provide ...

technique, he built up the surface of his canvases with thick blocks of solid colour, creating bold and dynamic portraits of remembered and imagined figures of the slate industry. He predominantly utilised a limited palette with a preference for blues, greys and purples, although exceptions include the quarrymen's brass band, their outfits rendered in bright reds and vibrant oranges. Pritchard first exhibited his slate-inspired work at an exhibition at Glynllifon, near Caernarfon in 2007 exhibiting 30 original works. At his peak he exhibited 60 pieces in June 2009 at the Oriel Ynys Mon, Anglesey. Pritchard died aged 70 in

Porthmadog Porthmadog (; ), originally Portmadoc until 1974 and locally as "Port", is a Welsh coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd and the historic county of Caernarfonshire. It lies east of Criccieth, south-west of Blaenau Ffest ...

following a short illness. A book titled 'Craig yr Oesoedd / True Grit' was posthumously published in October 2011 by Carreg Gwalch cataloging in 80 pages some of his best work.

References

1940 births 2010 deaths 20th-century Welsh painters 20th-century Welsh male artists 21st-century Welsh painters 21st-century Welsh male artists Welsh male painters People from Llandwrog {{Wales-artist-stub