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Mike Bernard enjoys experimenting with media and techniques, often using mixed media incorporating collage and acrylics. He also uses oils and watercolours. Within his paintings he tries to develop exciting textures and light, combining these qualities into original semi-abstract images of landscapes, seascapes, street scenes, still life and figurative compositions.

Mike has used paper collage for several years, and has found that as a base to his paintings it has allowed him to create abstract structures which in turn develop into those 'happy accidents' which come about from time to time - random textures, colours and shapes that all suddenly fall into place. This method allows pictures to evolve their own personality as they progress, which avoids them becoming over-representational.

Born in Kent in 1957, award-winning artist Mike Bernard trained at the West Surrey College of Art and Design, Farnham, followed by postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy Schools. Since then he has exhibited widely, including the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour (RI), of which he was elected a member in 1997, and the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.