At 62, Caerphilly artist Wyn Griffiths wishes he could paint like a child.
But like most adult artists who strive to recapture the uninhibited ability of children to capture a mood with one free-flowing brushstroke, he faces a difficult task.
He said: “I had a way of teaching children to let them be themselves and seeing the work was a great source of excitement for me for 37 years.
“But it is almost impossible for me to paint like them no matter how much I try.”
Indeed, it was Picasso who said he spent 80 years working to be able to paint like a child, but to clear away the intellectual baggage to do that is something few achieve, Wyn believes.
Originally from Anglesey, he trained at the Bath Academy of Art and taught in Essex before coming to St Cenydd Comprehensive School, Caerphilly, where he remained for 33 years until retiring two years ago.
Freed from the strictures of teaching he is now able to spend his days developing his own work.
“The main thing is the struggle with the material or paint or within myself. I have to force myself to do it. What else is life for if not for struggle?”
The impressionist painter Cezanne is a major inspiration for his expansive canvases and loose watercolours which explore the intricacies of light at play in nature.
“Unlike a lot of painters I cannot do it from my head. I love Cezanne’s work and a lot is based on him but I cannot be like expressive painters so there is a real struggle.”
Wyn is also an admirer of Welsh painters like Bert Isaacs, Iwan Baja and Terry Setch and hopes this year to stage an exhibition of his considerable body of work.

and the artist at work

PICTURES: Alan Grist