A wonderful opportunity to acquire by silent auction a watercolour painting of St George's Church Falfield during it's 150th Anniversary Year
The Artist, the late R.A. BROWN MBE, worked for Bruton Knowles for 30 years. He was inspired to paint after his retirement thanks to a box of watercolours given to him as a retirement gift. Over the next 20 years he painted prolifically, producing over 2,000 paintings of local churches and landscapes, all of which he donated to local charities. The fresh palate, intricate detail and character of his paintings made him a much sought-after artist. 'Alec's Project' as he fondly called it, was his ambition to paint an original watercolour of every one of the 408 churches of Gloucester Diocese. He completed 240 and at the age of 88, despite ill health was still to be found driving around the countryside and scrambling through hedges to find the best view of a church. Over the years much of his work has been turned into prints, postcards and Christmas cards and raised money for Gloucester Cathedral and the children's charity The James Hopkins Trust, but until 2008 the entire collection of churches had never been displayed publicly before. He received the MBE in 2000 for his work for local charities. He died at the age of 89. It had been one of his dying wishes that the paintings should be enjoyed by the public and used to benefit the churches. The painting will next be on display at the Patronal Day at St George's Church on Sunday 25th April.

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