About
Martyn is a BP Portrait Award nominated artist, his work has been selected for the BP Portrait Award in 2017 & 2020. He graduated from Brunel University in 2004 and he lives and works in Buckinghamshire in the UK.
His work has been selected for the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition in 2021 & 2022, with portraits of Miles Jupp and Michael Sheen shown at the Mall Galleries in London.
Martyn’s painting of the much loved actor and comedian Sir Lenny Henry was shortlisted for the BP Portrait Award in 2020 and exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
In 2017 his painting of the actor and Musician Matt Berry was also shortlisted for the BP Portrait Award and shown at the National Portrait Gallery in London. The painting was also exhibited at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, the Sunderland Museum & Winter Garden, and the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter.
In 2019 Martyn’s work was shortlisted for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, his work was exhibited in London, Salisbury, and Leicester, and his work was used in throughout the marketing campaign for the exhibition.
Martyn’s work was also shortlisted for the Derwent Art Prize in 2018. The biennial award, highlighting the best in international contemporary drawing.
As an artist, Martyn is mostly focused in calm and reflective portraiture, but his practice has covered a wide range of subject matter. His work is gentle, figurative and naturalistic, with a strong focus on emotional insight and draughtsmanship. He has a distinctive intricate style that is precise, delicate, and rewards repeated viewing. Martyn is equally comfortable working in paint or pencil.
Martyn was shortlisted of the Artist and Illustrator Magazine ‘Artist of the Year Award’ in 2018 and again in 2019. On both occasions the selected works were exhibited at the Mall Galleries in London.
Martyn’s work has featured on the pages of Artist and Illustrator Magazine and he is a member of the Contemporary British Portrait Painters group.
He regularly exhibits work in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and in London. He is currently working on a number of commissioned portraits.