Kingfisher
a recent commission

Anthony showed artistic ability when young. He developed an early interest in the natural world of the picturesque and of flora and fauna; interests that are maintained today. Drawing birds would occupy hours of his time.

Works of art capture our imagination because the artist has a different point of view, drawing attention to things we may overlook or have not considered. Anthony practices constantly, exploring and developing competence with different mediums. He studies techniques and devices, he understands colours and how they interact.

A detour from the natural to the fabricated environment came when Antony was first painting large canvases; these are in the cityscape series. Abstractions based on these developed as he explored new skills and techniques. Some of these design constructions have be applied to landscapes and woodland scenes.

Portraits and figures have a distinct style.

Anthony's family is artistic, he is a descendent of the Keys family, the talented modellers, painters and gilders at the Derby porcelain factory in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Like John Keys, Anthony sketches flowers directly in nature, though working also from photographs. A frequent walker in the countryside with a camera always at the ready, Anthony is an accomplished observer of birds, animals and plants. He sees and hears things that most of us miss.

John Keys (1797 - 1825)
Detail from his sketch book

Anthony Steer
Detail from his sketch book