Review by Ronald Maddox published in The Artist book reviews ‘Art in print’ in the March 1990 issue.
Sketching with Raymond Spurrier (Collins £4.95)
This is another extremely good book in the ‘Sketching with Artists’ series published by Collins, and is an excellent addition to the set, giving an insight into Raymond Spurrier’s thinking as an artist. His background as a town planner and journalist/illustrator comes through clearly in his observations.
This is not a ‘How to do it’ book, but a source of inspiration and ideas for any artist who is keen on sketching and wanting to develop his or her work. Raymond Spurrier refers to learning how to draw selectively, picking out only the significant elements by using the artist’s eye as a camera, focussing on details that will form the basis for composing a drawing or painting. His strong sense of decorative pattern, both in line and colour, is obvious in the pages of drawings and colour sketches, reflecting his distinctive style. The final comment in the text, that really having once started sketching you will begin to observe more than the average person, and that, in due course, it may become something of an obsession is, as I know from my own experience, very true.
The other artists featured in this series are: Alwyn Crawshaw, James Horton, Jean Parry-Williams, Eric Stemp and Ray Evans.