Watercolourist, Ashley Jackson, is well known for studies of his native North Country moorlands and hills, and his large-scale paintings capture something of their brooding atmosphere. In Ashley Jackson: An Artist's Life author Chris Bond, a feature writer for the Yorkshire Post, tells us about Ashely's life and career, from his early struggles to the opening of his first art gallery in 1963. It was then that his paintings of moorland scenes began to attract more widespread interest, and he became known as the 'Yorkshire Artist'.

Ashley uses a limited range of colours, indeed, some of his moorland paintings appear to be almost monochromes, but they effectively capture the sombre atmosphere of his subjects. He paints in the traditional English style, using no white or black and allows the white of the paper to shine through for his light passages. In his early days he outlined his subject matter with a felt-tip pen and painted over the top, but, with growing confidence, left that technique behind, relying on his applied liquid washes to capture his desired effects. Here he differs from tradition and often applied up to 30 washes, depending on his knowledge of the behaviour of colours to avoid opaque results. I would have preferred to see more of his paintings, perhaps at the expense of some of the family photographs, but the title makes it clear that the subject is the artist's life, not just his paintings.

Leisure Painter, Oct 2010

"If you are looking for a glossy coffee-table book to impress guests with, you could do worse than this beautifully illustrated biography of Yorkshire artist Ashley Jackson.
But this is much more than just an impressive looking tome. An Artists Life is a compelling book looking back on the life and work of the self-styled 'Yorkshire Artist' now in his 70th Year, whose watercolor paintings have become synonymous with country landscapes."

Bradford Telegraph & Argus