Colour is central to Watt's work. He seeks to draw with paint, making marks with brushes, painting knives, pieces of card, sponges and anything else that might be at hand to serve the purpose. Some marks are more definitive whilst others are searching and explorative. He searches for what he determines to be significant points in the view, whether it be landscape, figure or still life.

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"When starting a painting I have no preconception of what it is going to look like beyond using the structure of a composition. Each work develops through a dialogue between the painting and myself."

Watt considers art as a language; how he looks at and reads the information before him is broken down and reconstructed using marks, shape, surface and colour – a form of vocabulary that develops into visual compositions. The resulting work can be representational and/or abstract, often somewhere in between. He enjoys using a varied mix of media and processes, both individually and in combination, embracing the happy accidents. He believes it is important to respond equally to the subject and to the work as it evolves.

Watt graduated from the Winchester School of Art in 1983, where he studied Fine Art under the guidance of Gillian Ayres and Clyde Hopkins. The love of painting instilled in him then has remained with him and grown over time. Prior to this, he had spent a year on the Art Foundation course at Cheltenham College of Art and Design, rediscovering a love of drawing.

Having taught art for twenty-four years, mostly at Cheltenham Ladies' College, he has returned to the studio to explore and share his own way of interpreting aspects of the world.

2020 Broadway Arts Festival

2019 Cheltenham Open Studios