Toby Wiggins RP

Statement

Portraiture is at the centre of my painting practice. Each portrait offers me the opportunity to develop further as a painter. It is a unique blend of my own vision and that of the clients. There are always fresh ideas to explore, formally through composition, light, colour and drawing, but also in the quest for likeness and character. With every new sitter, I try to respond afresh to the repeated challenges that portraiture offers. I hope that my work is an honest expression of the particular individual(s), a translation of what I see and what I feel.

Methodology

I will generally work from life, but will undertake work from photographic material too. I work in oils on canvas or gesso panels and create portraits, landscapes and still lives. I tend to work traditionally with a range of brushes, palette knives, fingers and rags. The techniques I employ are varied and I like to have several pieces on the go. I often begin with quick sketches from life in oil or drawing in chalk or pencil. A commissioned portrait can be anything from a 3 or 4 hour study to a 3 or 4 month undertaking.

Bio

Toby Wiggins studied at the Royal Academy Schools. He has exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Show, BP Portrait Award, Discerning Eye, Jerwood Drawing Prize and the Holburne Portrait Prize, Bath.
Toby won the Prince of Wales Drawing Award in 2005 and 2013, the Changing Faces Prize in 2006 and the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize for figurative painting in 2009.
In 2006, after winning the BP Travel Award, he made portraits of the rural community of Wessex which were exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in 2007 and subsequently Dorset County Museum.

Scholarships, Awards, Prizes

• 2013 Prince of Wales Drawing Award

• 2009 Lynn Painter Stainer Prize, First prize

• 2007 University of Wales Purchase Prize (Print Originals, Mall Galleries)

• 2006 BP Travel Award (NPG) Changing Faces Prize for Portraiture

• 2005 Prince of Wales Portrait Drawing Prize