Ray Burgoyne obituary | Drawing

My father Ray Burgoyne, who has died aged 80, was a painter, woodworker and musician. He first exhibited his art in the late 1980s, and spent the next 30 years organizing countless exhibitions across Essex and Suffolk on the seashore.

Ray was self-taught and came to the art world with a clear, studied vision. The great work he created showed the image that was his life – romantic, unpredictable, filled with childish simplicity and dark complexity, with carnivalesque characters, forgotten places, and white, deep colors.

Born in Southend-on-Sea, EssexRay was the youngest of two children of Joseph Burgoyne, a greengrocer, and Dolly (nee Nash), who managed the papers of her husband’s stores. Ray’s early life, characterized by fierce independence, was spent trying to ride on the back of his pig, Rosie, pretending to be one of Alan Ladd’s cowboys, fishing off the end of the pier and drinking in beach dance halls to the sound of the Shirelles.

Ray aspired to go to art school, but after leaving Wentworth Boys’ High School, aged 14, he was sent to work in a cabinet making company as an apprentice carpenter.

In the early 60s, Ray was at the heart of the Southend scene as a founding member and drummer of the Flowerpots, a rhythm and blues group. opened to Animals and Amen. He stayed in the group until 1966.

In 1968 he married Sylvia, and had four children, Claire, Paul, Helen and Sam. Ray went on to work as a carpentry, at a shipyard in Leigh-on-Sea, organizing shops and restoring antiques around Essex, and putting on exhibitions for the Design Center in London.

During the 70s, he worked as a carpenter at the Palace Theater in Westcliff-on-Sea, building and designing props.

Ray and Sylvia divorced in 1986, and Ray married Gilly, a registered nurse, later that year. They had two children, Phelan and me.

After the family moved to Friston, Suffolk, in 1999, Ray became a full-time artist. He exhibited solo and in groups, mostly in the nearby seaside town of Aldeburgh, with both established and emerging artists.

When they see his beautiful paintings, which are characterized by a lot of oil and a vivid composition, they are often asked the question: “So, what does it mean? to be?” to which he replies with an unfamiliar smile to Ray, “Whatever you think it is.”

He is survived by Gilly, 6 children and 15 grandchildren.