John Sturgess
John Sturgess
Meet Gizmo

In John’s studio

John’s home is also his studio. Paintings hang on the walls and model planes sit on the shelves. He works at a small table in the kitchen, surrounded by the things he likes to paint.

He began painting around 2012–2013, and describes a radical change in his interests. Cricket, rugby and model making had been his main pursuits; painting became central to his life. Ideas arrive while he watches television or talks in a café, and he paints what catches his attention.

Allan’s photographs show John at work and at home, surrounded by his paintings and models. Read John’s biography.

Photographs by Allan. Select a photograph to see it larger.

John sitting at home with aircraft and space pictures on the walls behind him.
John at home.
John wearing a turquoise, paint-marked shirt in his studio.
John in the studio.
John leaning over a board and painting at a small table in the kitchen.
At work.
A view through the doorway of John working in his kitchen studio.
The kitchen studio.
A close view of paint marks on John's jeans.
Paint marks.
John's hand pointing to an aircraft display beneath a model plane.
An aircraft display.
A model aircraft on a shelf above small horse figures.
On the shelf.
A B-52 aircraft picture and a handwritten information panel on the studio wall.
B-52.
A close view of an aircraft image against clouds and a view of Earth.
Aircraft and space.
A painted bear face labelled Gizmo on a paint-marked surface.
Gizmo.
A colourful patch of stars seen through a dark, textured opening in a studio piece.
A detail from the studio.
A wider view of a dark, textured studio piece with a colourful patch of stars inside.
Another view.
A black board with John's handwritten text about the tunnel and the invisible line.
John's handwritten words.
A portrait image labelled Indra on a studio wall.
On the wall.
John sitting back in a chair beneath a picture of space.
John at home.
Two rearing horse figures on a wooden shelf.
Two horses.
About John The paintings