Les' Biography
Norman ‘Les’ Ellison was born near Liverpool on 27 June 1923.
After serving as a pilot in the RAF during World War II he resumed his apprenticeship as a typesetter at Lever Brothers in Port Sunlight. As part of his training he attended the Laird School of Art in Birkenhead for training in graphic design. During the course of his working career he moved from the Wirral, to Sheffield, East Anglia, Basingstoke, Warminster and finally to Frome where he lived for 30 years.
Les always enjoyed painting and sketching and took his sketch pad on holidays to record scenes that he used for his painting when he returned home. He had great fun drawing cartoons for his grandchildren and some of his Disney cartoons can still be found on the inside of the garage doors at his home. When his wife Val was Editor of the National Union of Insurance Workers Gazette he drew many cartoons which provided great amusement to the readers and sometimes anger from the Prudential Management. Sadly these originals no longer exist.
As he reached retirement he had more time to indulge in his art. In June 1995 he went on a painting holiday near Bergerac led by Maureen Barratt, an art teacher from Bath. The flame was finally lit. As well as the pleasure of driving across France he was smitten by the landscape and the vibrant colours of the French countryside. The tuition, camaraderie (and the French wine) was inspirational and the quantity of his paintings improved. This holiday was repeated the following year and another course with Maureen took place at Montreal, near Carcassone in 1998.
Later, Les attended David Chandler’s classes in Frome, discovering a more laid back style of painting. He thoroughly enjoyed David’s painting holidays to Ambillou-Chateau, near Saumur in June 2001 and 2002 which provided much inspiration and ideas for his later work.
Sadly, Les felt unable to go on any such further courses because of his failing health. However, he continued his painting at home in his beloved garden room, with views across to Longleat and Cley Hill.
His preferred medium was watercolour but he did experiment with oils, being inspired by Cezanne’s 'Mont St Victoire', and producing various views of ‘Mont Cley Hill!”. He did do some work with pastels after visiting the Charles Leandre Museum and Gallery at Montreuil-Bellay, but watercolour was his main metier.
Les always refused to sell or exhibit his works, because he did not feel they were good enough, despite the reassurances of his family and friends. He was quite happy to give some of them to those he felt would appreciate them. It gives us a glow of pride when we visit friends and family and see his work in pride of place in their homes.
We hope that those of you attending this retrospective exhibition will appreciate the skill and dedication that Les gave to his work. These works are being offered for sale as we feel they should be given a good home, and feel sure that he would appreciate the proceeds going to this wonderful charity that offers help and support locally to cancer sufferers.
Val Payne
