Gavin McDermott

Well, just before Peter Keegan took to Zoom classes (like a duck to water, I might add), he was working as the Artist in Residence at Aylesbury Waterside Theatre. And this was his farewell lecture/demo evening, including an exhibition of the work undertaken during this strange time of Covid… when everything shut, theatres closed and the world just stopped for a bit.

Anyway, after we’d had a look at the paintings in the foyer (over drinks, of course!), we filed into the auditorium and Peter explained how excited he’d initially been about his all areas pass, and how excited he’d been to be in both the dressing rooms and high up in the rigging back stage… only for the theatre to then be forced to close during the Covid pandemic.

He talked us through the restricted palettes he’s used and how he’d combined sketches and photos, and changed colours to suit his (artistic) aims.

And to finish, he did a quick painting (from a reference photo) of one of the back stage crew.