Painting moments in time

Charles ‘Charlie’ L. W. Minty is an internationally acclaimed artist  in the city of Bath, with paintings and drawings in public and private collections around the world.

Named Charles after King Charles III (having been born on the day that he was married to Diana Spencer on 29th July 1981), he is often referred to by his given name, but also known by Bathonians simply as “Charlie”.

His love of the city of Bath goes back to his childhood, when his mother would take him on day trips to Bath, at a time when many of the buildings were still covered in soot. As a boy he was in awe of this beautiful city of Bath, rich in architecture and resplendent with its old Georgian buildings; Bath Abbey, old shops and magnificent Crescents and parks.

Charlie enjoys painting all kinds of subjects, both ones that interest him, and commissions for other people. It is something he has always naturally been able to do. Charlie prefers to work outside with natural light and ‘real’ inspiration of working from life (plein air) together with all of the interesting and often unexpected events and challenges that contribute to his finished works of art.

Charlie felt that there was not enough opportunities for artists in the City of Bath, so in 2023 he founded the New Bath Arts Club or ‘New Bath Artists’ in 2023 and they held their inaugural exhibition at Bath Artists Studios in the City of Bath in October 2024. See www.newbathartsclub.co.uk

The early years…

I grew up on a mixed dairy and arable family farm in the village of Yatton Keynell, near Chippenham in Wiltshire, run by my father and grandfather. I would draw things that I saw, old tractors, rustic buildings with rural charm and hedgerows first hand – and discovered I had a gift for capturing form. At school aged five I painted a barn owl in flight on black paper (always ambitious!) At around age 10 I bought a postcard of the next door village of Castle Combe and using a set of watercolours given to me for my birthday, I painted the image from the postcard. Having completed this picture, but feeling that I could improve, I decided to do another painting. But this time I would put my paints and brushes and paper in my panier on my bike and cycle there, being just a couple of miles away. I painted the view of Castle Combe looking up the main street across the bridge. From that moment I was hooked.

Following this and adjacent to my school art studies I carried on painting in watercolours choosing subjects in my village – the Pub, the Church and the Farmhouse. My aunt would then ask me to paint a picture of all three subjects in a montage… my first commission!

At University I decided to study French Language, and History of Art and following my return to Wiltshire I imagined myself painting pictures in the centre of the City of Bath – but I would not have the confidence to paint plein air, in full view of the public until years later, perhaps helped by the experience of being scrutinized by judges on the dance floor at Blackpool!

Having a particular interest in architectural subjects and always ambitious, I was keen to tackle Bath Abbey first, quickly followed by the other tourist spots – Pulteney Bridge and The Royal Crescent – then delving deeper into the side alleys and adjacent streets. I was very fortunate to find customers for my first pieces of work, some of which took me several weeks to complete. Later I would begin to sell prints of my work to tourist on busy days in the centre of the City of Bath.

Royal Events

Fast forward to the passing of our late Queen Elizabeth II and I was in the middle of painting the largest picture I had done (40×40 inches) of Bath Abbey Churchyard when the sad news came. I decided to paint a portrait of her from the 1953 Coronation photographs – a relaxed image of her looking directly at the camera. I took the painting to Windsor where I would also paint a picture of the crowds in front of Windsor Castle.

The following year I painted on The Mall in the days leading up to the Coronation, and also at The Trooping of the Colour on the day King Charles III came to inspect the troops.

I am looking forward to more trips to London and elsewhere to cover Royal events, and also to many other projects focusing on people in landscapes, as I continue with my ‘Bath Bucket List’.

I am currently working on a large 6′ canvas of Bath Abbey (fortunately I am also tall, at 6’4″) – so you can’t fail to miss me – unless it is a Saturday afternoon, in which case I may well be painting live just across the river at the Recreation ground; the home of Bath Rugby!