Alan Mynall lives and works near a wood in Oxfordshire. He was born in Warwickshire but moved south to Oxford, in the early eighties, "for the better climate".

      "Always fascinated by drawing and colour, I studied at art college for two and a half years, in the late sixties, followed by twenty two and a half gap years.

      "I have drawn with pencil for longer than I can remember, but I do recall getting my first paints. At four and a half years old I was given a set of poster colours for Xmas and the experience of pure colour, pouring out of those little jars, set me on a course for life. I have been making a mess ever since."

       His painting mostly takes place in a shed, at the bottom of his garden, which rejoices in the name 'Shed a Little Light'. There is a notice, which reads, 

       "HOURS OF BUSINESS. Open most days about 9 or 10. Occasionally as early as 7 but SOMEDAYS as late as 12 or 1. We close about 5.30 or 6, occasionally about 4 or 5 but SOMETIMES as late as 11 or 12. SOME DAYS or AFTERNOONS I'm not here at all, and lately I have been here about all the time, except when I'm somewhere else, but I should be here then too." 

        Perhaps that sheds a little light on his working practice.

        He is currently working to produce enough paintings for a projected one-man show later this year. Some of these latest paintings can be seen in the Ragged Man Gallery here on the website.

       The 'Ragged Man' series of paintings is notably auto-biographical. These pictures describe moments or episodes in a personal journey. "No one gets far, in this journey of life, without some degree of damage, but the Ragged Man remains open and optimistic." The journey depicted is essentially spiritual; "I may need some of these images explaining to me; sometimes my subconscious mind slips things in while I'm not looking. They are all explorations of the attempt to live an authentic life in an often confusing and sometimes apparently hostile world. I do get quite serious sometimes."

self portrait in pencil  2009

      Alan Mynall has been an active member of the Oxford Art Society for over twenty years.

     Many of his paintings are in private collections in Britain, France, Germany, and Switzerland, as well as in Canada and the United States. He is also represented in at least one international corporate collection.