My friend Christopher Green, who has died aged 78, was something of a “wild boy” for much of his life. A printer by trade and artist by predilection, in his earlier days he generally put socialising before anything else, and often had a good time in doing so. But in the end a life of booze, fags and self-neglect caught up with him.
When he was born in Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire, Chris seemed destined for a life of respectability. His parents, John, who worked for an animal feedstuff company, and Rhoda (nee Hills), were scions of one of the town’s most notable families, and he inherited from his forebears the freedom of Haverfordwest.
At the local grammar school his talent for art was spotted and nurtured by his art teacher, the mural artist and printmaker Ronald Lowe. A year at Leeds College of Art was followed by textile design studies at the Central School of Art and Design in London in 1973, before he went on to study at the London College of Printing from 1978 to 1981, by which time socialising on the London scene seemed more important to him than painting.
In 1982 Chris relocated to Bournemouth, where his family had settled, and worked there as a print shop manager for Copygirl, a T-shirt printer for the fashion industry, before setting up his own offset-litho business.
When that went bust in 1989, a long period of unemployment followed, during which time Chris revived his interest in art. He had shows of his work at Bournemouth University’s Atrium Gallery (1997), as well as two joint exhibitions with the Portuguese painter Marie-France de Viell at the Business Design Centre in Islington (2000) and another solo show at Poole Arts Centre (also 2000).
Partly due to those exhibitions, in late 2001 Chris was able to sign up to the government’s New Deal 50+ scheme, which provided him with a small weekly income as a self-employed artist.
Nonetheless, though he was able to make a living of sorts and had much support and friendship in Bournemouth, things began to fall apart in the later period of his life. A fire in a garage below his flat forced him into temporary accommodation, he found himself fighting serious long-term illnesses, and then he fell into a further depression, making an attempt to take his own life.
At one stage his sister, Bridget, nursed him back to stable health, but his troubles continued, and he eventually lost the capacity to look after himself, dying in hospital of colon cancer.
Despite those troubles, Chris was an affable and generous man who had many friends, with whom he loved to talk freely about art and rock music.
He is survived by Bridget and by his brother, Timothy.
