FEATURE
Eddie captures his
Island walks for all
to admire
By Peter White
When Eddie Ash received a Christmas
present of a water colour set from his
wife Shirley, he nearly threw it away
without even opening it.
Eddie was convinced it should have
been for daughter Lucy rather than
himself. He smiled: “I was not at all
artistic, even though I got an A grade
for art at school. But in those days you
only had to turn up to get an A!”
Now some 18 years on, he admits
he is glad he kept his ‘unwanted’ gift,
because it subsequently set him on
the road to a successful career as an
artist; initially painting airplanes, and
more latterly producing some stunning
works of the Island.
Eddie was born in Cowes, and
attended Cowes High School when
it was known as Cowes Secondary
Modern. He left school at 15 and
remained on the Island a couple more
years before leaving in 1967 to join
the RAF. He stayed in the RAF for 12
years and then began a career in sales,
marketing and management training,
with painting virtually the last thing
on his mind.
Although he now lives in Lincoln,
he always wanted to return here one
day, and in fact celebrated his 60th
birthday at the New Holmwood
Hotel, the place of his birth. After
experimenting in art, Eddie progressed
so well that his prime business became
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aviation art, and he is the only living
artist who has painted for the Red
Arrows on three occasions, including
the official painting when they
performed for the Queen’s Golden
Jubilee in 2002.
It was while he was taking part in
Walk the Wight a couple of years ago
that he decided it was time he tried
to capture the beauty of the Island on
canvas. So he embarked on producing
a series of paintings based on popular
Island walks. He said: “I have always
banged on to people that if they come
to the Island they have got to walk
rather than drive around in a car,
so the paintings were really aimed
at being mementos of some of their
walks, or even just a stroll.”
Eddie has broken down his work into
three categories – walks, strolls and
views. He has already completed 18
images, and hopes that will increase
over the next couple of months to at
least 20, with more to come.
His portfolio includes a stunning
view of the Needles, as well as
Tennyson Trail, Freshwater Bay, St
Catherine’s Lighthouse, Steephill Cove
and a stroll around Newtown. Eddie