If walls could talk
Peter Jones (MA 1997) combined a passion for Paris and painting to carve out a career in the art world. Fascinated by the stories and character of buildings, he describes his path to publishing his fifth book of artworks, which is all about St Andrews.
My childhood was spent initially in Paris and latterly in Newcastle. My mother, however, is Scottish and that connection led us to spend a great deal of time in Kirkcudbright with family.
Those early years in Paris gave me an affection for the country, which led to me studying French and History of Art as an undergraduate at St Andrews. I had applied to four Scottish universities, but it was St Andrews that had captured my heart with its old-world charm.
In my first year I studied French, English Literature and Social Anthropology. The Social Anthropology modules on indigenous people were especially fascinating; the volume of reading for English Literature was beyond me; and I missed my art, hence the switch at the end of that year to joint honours in French and History of Art.
Politics, Paris and painting
I loved the French language and also studied French politics and society, from De Gaulle to the present day. I found the turbulent recent past in France shocking and revealing given its history, and the vivid colour of French cultural and political life inspired me to go there upon graduating from St Andrews.
I decided it was time for a complete change of direction. I wanted to further improve my French and had rediscovered my obsession with art. I returned to Paris, got a job working in a bar, signed up for life drawing classes, and immersed myself in the life of the city.
I stayed for two years and exhibited some of my work in Paris during that time. I also sold enough paintings to boost my belief that art might hold a realistic possibility as part of my working life, in some form or another.
In 2000 I returned to Scotland to try and build up an art practice and profile here, and I settled in Edinburgh. That year I began exhibiting at the High St Gallery in Kirkcudbright, where I still show my work today. The gallery’s owner Maureen Briggs, and the late Richard Ross, encouraged me to paint the buildings of Kirkcudbright (an attractive harbour town on the Solway coast in Dumfries and Galloway), and that led me to publish my first book of paintings. A steady stream of commissions for house portraits has followed since.
A celebration of St Andrews
In the last two to three years, I’ve turned my attention back to St Andrews – another beautiful town that I know and love.
My student life here was rich and varied, filled with sport, music and friendships. I have friends from my university days who I still see every year. Looking back now, I was not the most academic student. I loved the Old Union Coffee Shop and late-night films at the New Picture House. We would queue up outside and catch up on the classics. I enjoyed Sunday league football, playing for the Hamilton Haccies throughout my years at St Andrews.
As a place to study, to live, or simply to visit, St Andrews is very special. I adored the beaches, the freezing-cold blast as you leaned into the wind heading up North Street, and the easy, ready-made social life. There were, naturally, highs and lows, but overall, my years here were happy ones.
St Andrews, a book of paintings is a celebration of the buildings that make up the town, brought together through paintings in line and watercolour. Each building has an accompanying piece of text – part anecdote, part personal connection and, in some cases, historical.
Peter’s paintings of the Jigger Inn and South Castle Street, St Andrews
Silent witnesses, keepers of stories
There are so many buildings of note in St Andrews, but I’ve narrowed it down to 20 images celebrating the town, the University, and its status as the ‘home of golf’. I’m now counting down to its publication in April 2025, when it will be available in Topping & Company Booksellers and the R&A World Golf Museum in St Andrews. The Sproson Gallery on South Street will be hosting an accompanying exhibition throughout April.
Buildings are like trees: silent witnesses to the lives that unfold around them. I find them so rich in character (especially the older ones), and it’s that character that I try to capture in each painting. These buildings have stories to tell. Their dignity and the sheer beauty of the aged stone, weathered roof tiles and solid, spacious proportions of yesteryear never cease to inspire me.
I’m proud to have been able to turn my passion for art into meaningful work and have thoroughly enjoyed being able to use my house portraits to celebrate and showcase, among other things, some of the places that have shaped the course of my life.
The exhibition at Sproson Gallery, 138 South Street, St Andrews runs from 5 to 30 April 2025, from Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm. Find out more at http://www.peterjoneshouseportraits.co.uk or contact Peter Jones at [email protected].