This Week's Window - Cyril Croucher

Cyril was born in 1951 and grew up in Shoeburyness, a small village in the East of England. He graduated from Southend-on-Sea Art College in the swinging sixties and set out to establish himself as a professional artist. Dissatisfied with the work he was producing and following the death of his father, Cyril stopped painting and, as he puts it, “rejoined the real world and got a proper job”. For the next twenty years he worked in various trades, from boat building to gardening, and finally settled into a successful career as a property surveyor.

It was only when he moved to Cornwall with his family that he started to paint again - unable to help himself in the face of so much inspirational material! It was the houses and boats in their quaint harbour settings that interested him most, and thus his present style was born and began to evolve.

Together with his wife he bought and extended the Millpool Gallery which is in Mousehole, a beautiful unspoiled fishing village in the far west of the county, and began to exhibit his new work. From then he has not looked back; his work has grown in popularity at an amazing rate, and he has held numerous successful exhibitions across the South West of England. When asked what he gets out of painting Cyril replies, “happiness.”