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En plain air

Five storey Regency terrace overlooking the fishing port of Ilfracombe

Artist and designer Mark Rochester grew up in north Devon. After leaving school he moved to London to study at the Central School of Art. He subsequently became a successful printed textile designer working for Colefax & Fowler, Designers Guild & GP & J Baker and others. Some ten years ago, requiring more studio space where he could both paint and design, he moved from a small house in Dulwich, London to a five storey Regency terrace overlooking the fishing port of Ilfracombe. His paints mostly 'en plain air', braving the weather conditions to take advantage of Devon's dramatic coastline and countryside. His home is a showcase for his passion for pattern, colour and collecting. Antique Staffordshire figures and the work of contemporary ceramicists are ranged alongside each other in the green painted sitting room whilst innumerable examples of vintage Poole pottery fill the shelves in the study next door, providing inspiration for the textile and wallpaper designs he continues to create (bathroom and dining room wallpaper are his), and subject matter for the decorative still lifes he paints when it's blowing gale force 9 outside. His paintings are to be shown in several forthcoming exhibitions.