A Student Visit to Doug Kemp

Article by: Abigail Gammage
School: Ipswich School

This article documents a recent student visit to Doug Kemp’s home studio. Abigail Gammage is among the last students to discuss Doug’s working process first-hand, reflecting on how artistic discipline, technical decision-making, and professional stewardship translate beyond art practice and into her ambition to study veterinary medicine.

Attention to Detail and “Clinical” Adjustments

In this workshop, I managed to analyse my designs to see “what would have been better”. This mirrors the diagnostic processes needed in veterinary medicine, showing critical self-evaluation and an understanding of how choosing the right material or medical treatments affects the outcome. As with Doug, we discussed how using emulsion paint for stencils instead of plastic cut-outs would improve the detailing, showing the “clinical eye” I would need in a clinical situation by identifying flow and proposing a precise technical solution.

Proficiency with Diagnostic & Generative Technology

While Luke taught me about his AI tools such as Midjourney and Nano Banana, I realised this was a strong metaphor for modern veterinary imaging. I learned how original images can be altered in specific ways and iterated as a scene develops, connecting to how veterinary medicine increasingly relies on AI-assisted diagnostic software analysing X-rays or MRI scans. This demonstrated how I am becoming tech-literate in using digital platforms to manipulate data, visualise different outcomes, and consider prognoses.

Further links

Abigail Gammage

Ipswich School

Doug Kemp

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DOUG KEMP

Doug Kemp describes himself as a colour human, capturing everything he sees or feels as part of his paintings. He considers himself part of the nostalgic art movement, a pre-post modernist, while still maintaining strong roots in Pop Art. His work reflects a deep appreciation for classical Renaissance painting alongside the bold visual language of comics, both defined by their confident use of line and colour.

As an Industrial City Painter, Doug draws inspiration from a wide range of sources including Art Deco, Fernand Léger, and Roy Lichtenstein, all of which have strongly influenced his visual style. His approach echoes Picasso’s well-known remark:
“Good artists borrow, great artists steal.”

Now in his eighties, Doug continues to work regularly in his studio, producing paintings primarily in acrylic on canvas, often around 42 × 61 cm. His work frequently combines darker tonal backgrounds with strong comic-style line work, featuring cars, stylised figures, glamorous characters and dynamic compositions.

The Kiss

The direction of action is reversed compared to Doug’s painting, Running Woman. Here, the male figure appears to be running into a tunnel, creating multiple planes of perspective through the flat treatment of his suit. The female figure sits within a plain framed panel. According to Doug, she is a recurring character inspired by one of his long-standing pin-up influences, Bettie Page, the American model often referred to as the “Queen of Pinups”.

Rainy Day Taxi

This work reflects Doug’s interest in movement, urban atmosphere and cinematic framing. Strong perspective lines, bold colour blocking and graphic simplicity combine to create a sense of motion and narrative drawn from comic illustration and mid-century design.

The Princess

This piece features a stylised female character presented with bold outlines, flattened colour planes and a strong graphic presence. The composition reflects Doug’s continued interest in character-driven imagery and visual storytelling.

Socko Hero

Socko is depicted as a classic comic-book superhero, inspired by the exaggerated punch-action characters found in early printed comics. The figure embodies Doug’s affection for mid-century graphic art, with simplified forms, expressive facial features and bold colour contrasts designed to capture movement, impact and humour in a single frame.

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Doug began his artistic journey working with monoprints before transitioning to lino printing, a medium that has become highly sought after for its distinctive texture and visual depth. Although lino prints are notoriously challenging to reproduce with absolute accuracy, they remain in high demand. Doug typically produces no more than a thousand impressions from a single plate.

Once Doug completes these prints, his son Luke employs the French process known as giclée, derived from the term meaning “to spray” or “to squirt.” This technique allows Luke to digitise the original artwork and produce high-quality inkjet prints. Using Photoshop, Luke enhances and refines the works, combining traditional craftsmanship with modern technology to preserve and elevate Doug’s artistic output.

Now aged 86, Doug continues to create, while Luke plays a key role in managing the printing process and modernising his father’s work as a web designer and digital creative. Through digital innovation and creative applications such as Neural Networks and Midjourney, Luke extends Doug’s prints into photorealistic visual narratives. These reimagined works are often developed into short immersive video creations that build upon the emotional essence of Doug’s original pieces.

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Google Meet with Luke Kemp! (Doug’s Son)

The screen printing process originated in China thousands of years ago, but it became a major technique in the late 1950s when Andy Warhol popularised it through his iconic series of Marilyn Monroe prints.

Historically, artists used silk screens, hence the name, but modern screens are now made from synthetic materials due to their durability and stability.

The process involves transferring an image onto a mesh screen and then forcing ink through it to create a layered printed image.