Featured Artist Geoff Thornley

British artist Geoff Thornley presents a delightful portfolio of paintings, inspired simply by his love of creating. Enjoy and visit his website to see more.

 

 

Like most artists, I started to paint at an early age, initially with watercolours, followed by a brief flirtation with an airbrush, and finally, and thankfully, settling on acrylics. I love diversity, which is why I paint different subjects and in different styles.

 

 

It is the process of painting itself I enjoy, and acrylics allow me to paint in any style and on any surface I want, from thin washes to thick impasto. I also use a combination of acrylic and digital painting to create limited edition prints, mainly of motoring or aviation subjects, which is both fun and very rewarding as regards the finished art.

 

 

I can create greater detail and achieve more subtlety with this combination than with just brush alone. “Chrysler” is an example of my combination art. I paint the subject matter I feel a connection with to a certain extent, which is why I create all sorts of motoring art, but lately I just look at the board and then start painting, continually amazed at what comes out.

 

 

The abstract process is quite complex, and involves first primer, then thick layers of white paint, making sure there are lots of brushstrokes visible. I also use a palette knife to build up texture. After it has fully dried, I then apply colours as quickly as I can both in thick and thin amounts with brush and knife.

 

 

After about five minutes, I get a rag and drag it across the surface, and because the paint has been applied in various thicknesses, it dries at various rates, which not only creates wonderful shapes and colours, also highlights the brushstrokes. It is often what is left after scraping back that forms the basis of the painting. The exciting thing is, it doesn’t always work, but when it does, it is just joy.

 

 

My motoring and aviation paintings are more structured, but even these start life with a plan which can soon be abandoned. The Tortoise and Hare painting took nearly six months to finish because of looking, contemplating and adding things, and removing them again until I was finally able to say it was done.

 

 

This painting gained me acceptance into the Guild of Motoring Artists, a privilege granted to a few each year. Sadly, due to distances involved, I was unable to keep up the exhibition schedule which is a requirement of membership, but it is something of which I am very proud to have achieved.

 

 

My inspiration comes from everywhere, and it is hard to pinpoint what leads to thinking of this idea or that. I prefer now to just start and see where we end up. My work has no inherent meaning or purpose. I paint because I enjoy it, and I paint until I am happy to look at it, forever.  The meaning or interpretation is supplied by the viewer. It should spark something inside which you just want to keep feeling over and over.

 

Geoff Thornley invites you to follow him on Twitter.