NICK SCHLEE’S EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS

I was invited to attend an exhibition of paintings by Nick Schlee in the West Berkshire Museum on the Wharf on Thursday 1 May 2008. I arrived at 6.40 p.m. to find a number of people there including the Chairman of West Berkshire Council, Andrew Rowles and Mrs Wendy Carpenter. I looked at the numerous paintings displayed and I admired his oil paintings of landscapes in his strong style and I then saw two paintings of anti-aircraft guns deployed in the desert. These were in total contrast to his other paintings and reminded myself to ask him about these when I met him. Andrew Rowles gave a speech, thanking Nick for presenting three of his paintings to the Museum and the purpose of the exhibition called Retrospection was to give the people of West Berkshire the opportunity to view his paintings and photographs and other artefacts to indicate the interesting life he had.
I was eventually introduced to Nick and his wife who have their home in Upper Basildon. I asked Nick about the pictures of anti-aircraft guns which seemed to be a very high calibre, he said they were painted when he was an officer in the Royal Artillery and he explained that were used in a field gun role as well. I also discovered that his wife was also artistic and that their house was literally full of paintings.
I found the exhibition very interesting and liked his paintings very much. It is worth a visit and I would encourage readers to visit the Museum to see it.