I
Landmark Places
I grew up within earshot of the surf at Constantine Bay in Cornwall. After some years in Hertfordshire, I’ve returned to an eroding coastline at Start Bay, near Kingsbridge in Devon. I rarely paint a ‘pure’ landscape, preferring to focus on landmarks defined by the people who live there. For some ongoing work about the inundation of Old Hallsands, I have made ink, paints and crayons from locally found sources.
Unconventional beginnings
I read natural sciences at Cambridge University, studying in the rooms once occupied by Charles Darwin. This was followed by a PhD in palaeontology and comparative anatomy, in the course of which I was able to refine my drawing skills through meticulous illustrations to support the study of skeletons and musculature.
I continue to draw from these roots in my work today, pursuing artistic lines of enquiry that investigate change and and adaptation to change, whether slow and geological (evolution and erosion) or rapid and cataclysmic (flooding, coastal inundation).
I stoop to gather a seabird’s feather fallen on the beach. Torn from a beautiful, drifting wing.
Vernon Watkins
Stepping stones
Figure Drawing
I first entered a life studio at 18, and working from a figure remains a passion. I ran life classes of my own for years, and continue to make life drawings regularly.
Media
Pencil, crayon, charcoal, oil, acrylic, pen and ink, collage … Anything, really.
Shows in Devon
Creative Passions, Thurlestone, August 2026
Devon Now, Teignmouth Arts Action August 2026
Salcombe Art Club, June 2026
Past Exhibitions
Hertford Arts Society, John Goss Award, 2010; Courtyard Arts 2010; Margaret Harvey Gallery, 2009; For Art’s Sake, Harpenden, 2009; Courtyard Arts, Hertford, 2009; ArtShed, Ware, 2008; Hertfordshire Open, Best in Show, 2007