Painter and Printmaker, Jean Hobson uses any medium in a uniquely vibrant way, a method which comes from her love of strong colours, and her desire to make a positive statement in her painting.
Hobson was born in Wallasey and graduated at Liverpool College of Art before moving to Scarborough. There, she taught and ran a small hotel overlooking the harbour while bringing up her two daughters. She became renowned as a vegetarian chef, played accordian with local blues bands, and after opening a studio, exhibited widely in London and across the north of England.
Hobson moved to Glossop in 1992 to concentrate on painting, attracted by the dramatic landscape of the High Peaks, the earthy vitality found in the mill-town and its accessibility to numerous cities. For the past three years Jean has been looking towards the changing face of Manchester.
Not only has she been painting and drawing the people who live and work in the city, but she has also been recording the old buildings due for demolition before they disappear forever, and the new buildings as they emerge, celebrating their optimism and inventiveness as they herald in the new era.
From photographs and sketches Jean has produced a series of paintings, prints, and drawings which sympathetically record the places that have captured her imagination, and which, she feels, form a unique view of Manchester.
'I paint these scenes because I finds them absorbing and unique. The city is developing constantly and the skyline changes day-by-day, but it is the contrast between past, present, and future of the city’s architecture that really captures my imagination'.
— Jean Hobson
