John Dobbs is a British painter and printmaker whose work is rooted in direct observation, drawing and the physical act of painting. Born in Windsor in 1961, he grew up in Denham, Buckinghamshire. Before becoming a full-time artist in 2003, he trained and worked as a draughtsman in electrical engineering - a background that gives his painting a quiet structural intelligence beneath its looser, more instinctive surface.
Dobbs has exhibited regularly with the New English Art Club since 2009 and with the Royal Institute of Oil Painters since 2010. He was awarded the New English Art Club Drawing Scholarship in 2012 and was elected a member of the NEAC in 2015. He has also exhibited with the Royal Society of British Artists, Lynn Painter-Stainers, ING Discerning Eye and the Society of Wildlife Artists. In 2019, he was awarded the Small Painting Prize at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters Annual Exhibition for Lemon and Spoon.
Although largely self-taught, Dobbs's work sits firmly within the British observational tradition, while retaining a character that is very much his own. He paints from life, either outside in the landscape or in the studio, often working with speed, concentration and physical energy. His subjects range from landscape and still life to interiors, figures, flowers, birds, vehicles and the ordinary objects of daily life - all handled with the same alertness to shape, colour, weight and feeling.
His work is held in private collections in the UK and internationally.