3 weeks Ago
AT the age of 75 many people feel the need to relax, to engage with the world in a leisurely fashion, maybe take up a new, gentle, hobby. Not so Alan Hawkins, whose compulsion to paint means he is developing a body of work celebrating fellow residents at his retirement complex, in Timperley. "I’m three quarters of a century old,' he says.
‘I started work as a carpet fitter at 15, then my cousin’s wife saw some of my drawings and sent me off to night school. "My teacher there, Mrs Heaton, was also the head of art at Altrincham School for Girls and got me a place as a mature student at the Cheshire School of Art and Design, in Northwich, aged 21, and from there I went on to be a professional portrait painter." This article was originally published in Cheshire Life.
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co.uk/magazines/cheshire/ to sign up. Don’t miss out—subscribe today! Alan moved to the Orchard Court retirement complex in 2022 and soon started to get to know the other residents within the community, who gather in the communal living and dining spaces.
Self portrait The paintings I have done for this series are all quite small, compared to my normal preference, and so are quite tightly painted. In this self-portrait you can see my usual style is looser, more mark making in style. (Image: Kirsty Thompson) ‘Some are chatters, some are bad tempered but funny, some are cantankerous.
They’ve all got a story to tell me though, some amazing stories. They’re just paintable, they’ve got paintable faces. ‘I think as we get older, we wish we’d asked our grandparents more.
I’m asking now. They’re not my grandparents, but they’re in the later stages of their life. They’re great to talk to and while I can’t record their stories in my paintings, I can record who they are now.
’ Eleanor Rigby I painted this as part of a series I named Father's Fears. They say when you have sons, you worry, but when you have daughters, you pray. This one is about loneliness.
I always think the people in Lowry's busiest paintings look (Image: Kirsty Thompson) Alan is planning to complete a portrait of every member of his retirement community, then put on an exhibition, celebrating age and experience. ‘There are 20 of us here, so it’s quite an undertaking, but I have to paint, it’s just in me. I’ll then need somewhere to exhibit them, but I’ve been blessed on a few occasions, people have exhibited my work in different places, including a four-month exhibition at Salford Art Gallery, so maybe I shall be lucky again.
’ Hughie Jones, 94 Hughie was in the army and stationed in India. The Indian court offered him an extra wage, maybe ten shillings, to be a witness for when they were doing hangings; because the British army was there they wanted to prove that everything (Image: Kirsty Thompson) Bert Bradley, 95 Bert's a handsome guy. He's a lovely bloke.
He goes out with his walking frame and just strolls straight across the road – the traffic just has to wait for him. (Image: Kirsty Thompson) Iris Mayer, 93 Iris has a photograph of herself at 17, and she's still beautiful at 93. (Image: Kirsty Thompson) Alma Chichocki, 92 Alma is so lovely; she misses dancing.
She used to go gambling in Las Vegas but she can't even get across the road to the bookies here. (Image: Kirsty Thompson).
