17 Jul 2023

Meet the Artist: Richard Osgood

white text on pink background: Did you have any formal training or have you always drawn and painted,  is this a skill that you have recently developed?

None at all! I just enjoy it ! It is both relaxing and encourages one to look at things properly. It’s a happy place for me.

white text on pink background: Was it a difficult decision to share your art with the general public?

Only that there are so many better people that are way more talented than me. Once you get past the fact that it may be no good it makes it easier to share I think. I love seeing other people’s work and so many that share their own art are people I either respect hugely or those that seem to be genuinely pleasant encouraging people with whom I enjoy chatting. There needs to be more art in the world!

You have publicised your art via twitter, in particular the quick draw for #inkoctober and  using artefacts shown on “digging for Britain” do you prefer this to a long considered and pondered work?

I think a more considered piece of work would really highlight my limitations! I have lots of different projects and things buzzing round in my head so doing things quickly is good. Digging for Britain is perfect - so many wonderful finds which lend themselves to drawing and our little twitter drawing community. Alice Roberts is Mega talented at art so I hope she enjoyed seeing the work too.‘Inktober’ is another good process with a daily drawing prompt throughout the month of October- I always TRY to do a heritage theme each day and love seeing the imaginative ideas people come up with.

Pink background with white text: Is it easy to stop the piece or do you have to have a bit of a think then walk away/carry on?

I sometimes redo it if I’m not happy and take reference photos for colours and the suchlike. Sometimes it’s great to go back and do more.

Pink background with white text: What is the process behind the images– pencil then watercolour/acrylic?

Yes pencil, then fine ink and then often watercolour or ink wash. I want to get into acrylic soon. 

Do you work in any other mediums such as digital or  was this a conscious decision to be creative in this genre because of the portability of the materials?

My daughter is great at digital I just like having a physical collection. It all really started with doing little illustrations in holiday diaries which I have found to be warm and happy memories even if they aren’t any good. 

Your art has such an “in the moment” feel do you have a wish list for your portfolio or is it whatever is present ?

Anything historic or archaeological. I’m fortunate that loads of my digs have so much to offer visually that I’m doomed for choice.

Richard is Defence Infrastructure Organisation Senior Historic Advisor. Find out more about his work here. Find him on Twitter.

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This interview was produced as part of the 2023 Festival of Archaeology's Archaeology and Creativity Theme Day sponsored by Thames & Hudson.

Thames & Hudson are one of the world’s leading publishers of illustrated books. They publish high-quality titles across ‎all areas of visual creativity. Their mission is to create a ‘museum without walls’ and to make accessible to a large reading public the world of art and the research of top scholars.

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