Influences: People who have inspired me, and whose work I have admired:
Don't just "Follow your Dream"- Get a good one worth following, first. (I said that.)
I was asked about my influences the other day. I can't give a conventional answer. I can't think of any artist that makes me work as I do, though I can think of many that I admire and whose work I have enjoyed.
My story is as follows: As a kid, I didn't enjoy going round galleries. That changed when, during GCSE art, I had to copy works by various artists. That made me understand a whole lot more, and when I was 16, my granny gave me most of her collection of art books- the prizes within being books of British drawings and the drawings of Augustus John. I had a pocket-money raise and started to buy cheap new Taschen art books, (my first ones were Dali and Van Gogh) and 2nd hand ones from a local bookshop. I also started to buy 2nd-hand books- CS Lewis, Moomin ones with better-quality printing of the illustrations. I was copying artworks for interest and fun. As a child I had copied and traced cartoons in comics. Now, it was Leonardo and Rembrandt. I was deeply interested in double-images and optical illusions.
However, when I did my degree course, I didn't like any of the contemporary art I was introduced to, either in lectures or in our visit to London. Perhaps my memory is poor, but it was all "conceptual" stuff, and, in my mind, tedious, boastful and trying to be much cleverer than it really was. And mostly without much beauty or artistic skill. Dismal stuff. I saw nothing that inspired me, or which I wanted to emulate. The art I met with in books was more interesting, better-executed, and more beautiful. I haven't found anything labelled "conceptual art" that has interested me, and I tend to just walk past, if I come across any, today. It's not worth it. The college library, though, had 7 volumes of Rembrandt's drawings, and that was a treat. As a teenager and occasionally since, I have copied the work of other artists- Leonardo da VInci, Arcimboldo, Raymond Harris Chang, Augustus John, Pissarro, Picasso, Van Gogh, MC Escher, Degas, Tolouse-Lautrec, and of course, Rembrandt. I can't think of any others, but this more or less stopped, on my degree course.
As a child, I copied cartoons in comics and annuals. In the past, I have done work that has tried to copy the styles of some of these artists, and a few more, like Pat Marriott, Tove Jansson. But can you see any of that in my work? I suppose the artists whose work I would most like to emulate include Rembrandt, of course, but the great cartoonist, Pont. I have tried to use his way of using off-scene commentary in titles.
And, having come away with a poor degree, in 1999, I didn't have the confidence to work in art, and so I shut the door and left it behind.
I went to the Velasquez show in London in maybe 2006, in spare time when I was there for an English teaching conference, and that's it. I had a brief walk through the Bournemouth Pinewalk Exhibition, and an exhibition of Hungarian lacework, in Kiskunhalas, but can't think of another exhibition I went to.
So, my art came in books- both books of pictures, and illustrations for stories, and of course, on calendars, T-shirts, mugs, CD covers, billboards, newspapers... I will never despise or write off illustration as a lesser form of art.
So it was that in 2013, when I went self-employed as an artist, I knew of no contemporary artists, other than a friend, Oliver West, whose work that I liked. I had lost touch with everyone else from college, and few had gone into art. I did subsequently reconnect with a few, and I began to meet local artists. In 2020, I started using Instagram, and than was a massive shock. Suddenly, my bubble was popped, and I saw wonderful art from all around the world. It was overwhelming.
But I can't think of any artist to put down as an influence.
Of course, I still have had influences, and this is an incomplete list of these:
Family and friends
These also include artists. I've got art on both sides of my family. It has been something appreciated and encouraged, and something thought of as worth doing. Thank you to everyone who does that! My schoolfriends were a big part of why I began making more and more art. I will say more in a bit.
Teachers and Technicians
The second lot, teachers and technicians. Ditto. Just to say that, like most people, I have met good ones, bad ones, and the in-between. The ones I appreciated best at school gave me the impression of entirely leaving me alone! The one who taught me most over the years was a lady called Brigitte (I'm not sure how you spell it) Dorrell. Thank you to her and to the others, and to my primary teachers, too.
My foundation teachers at Stroud School of Art- which has since become part of Stroud College- were varied, and a number were truly superb teachers. I was taught to do woodcuts by Simon Packard, for which I am very thankful, and had a great sculpture tutor- Tom Costello, who constantly enthused and encouraged and got us making things.
I found one of my tutors on my degree course, John Utting, who taught printmaking, an inspiration, and he taught me etching and drypoint, lithography and silkscreen, and a number of further printmaking techniques, but much of my time there was shaped by the other students around me, although not many people were making work that was the kind of thing I wanted to, myself.
What I always loved was when you had a teacher who freed you- who said- here is this and here is that- you could do a bit of this or try a bit of that- and encouraged me to go and pick up a lump of plaster and chisel and hack away at it, or sit down and do my first woodcut. To the teachers and technicians who care- thank you. You can make a real difference, and you won't always know it!
Other good art teachers and technicians I have had have included Ros Wise, the late Jill Shonk, Nan Godfrey, Terry Warner, the late great guy all-round- John Stadniki, Peter Walwin- who taught woodcarving, Michael Hickey- who taught botanical illustration, Ray Tanner, and the staff of Stroud Museum- Jonathan Wallis, Hugh Morrison, Cherry Knott... and there will be more I've forgotten.
Artists- Early Inspiration
The third group, artists. I must say that I have no interest in the snobbery you get in fine art that thinks fine art is something great and in some way above ceramics or illustration or wallpaper design. Rubbish! Every little thing that is made has the potential to be made well or badly. You can have top-quality art in a factory, a poster, or a mug- and the things we live with should be done well.
So, when I do finally get around to making a list of inspirational artists, they will include ones that you are more likely to see in children's books than on the walls of galleries- and so, in one of the most important places of all. After all, I had no love of art galleries as a kid, but I loved a good book.
Some of the most inspiring book artists for me have been Pat Marriott, (Joan Aiken and Williard Price books) Tove Jansson, (Moomins) Margery Gill, (Over Sea, Under Stone and some Frances Hodgson Burnett) John Vernon Lord, (The Runaway Rollerskate, etc) Jules Pfeiffer, (The Phantom Tollbooth) Edward Ardizzone, Desmond Digby, (Bottersnikes and Gumbles) Ralph Thompson, (various Gerald Durrell books) Harry Clark (The Secret Garden), Stephen Lavis, (covers of some of the Narnia ones, etc) and I could go on for a very long time- not all the ones you enjoy are necessarily inspirations.
Artists- Later Inspiration
If you want a list of artists, well, the things that get you inspired initially are not always the ones you hold onto. I can think of 3 artists' work I met with as a kid that I really loved, and which made me want to do more and more- an airbrush fantasy artist, Peter Pracownik, and a couple, John and Fiona Owen, sharing a studio in Chalford, Stroud, Glos. Look at my work and theirs, and you may wonder that they inspired me. They did.
And then, my granny gave me a pile of old art books, I had a pocket money rise, and discovered Tuckers 2nd Hand Bookshop in Stroud, and Booksale in Gloucester, and from a 16-year-old who didn't enjoy looking at art I became one who loved to do that and began collecting art books. Some of the first were Taschen ones on Dali and Van Gogh. I loved them both and still do. Amongst those inherited were a book of Augustus John's drawings, a Studio magazine from about 1921, with a focus on drawings and printing, and books on Rodin, Hokusai, etc. I bought second hand ones on Leonardo, Brueghel, Velazquez, and dozens more from the famous to the obscure, and I found Rembrandt.
Finally, as someone who calls themselves a Christian and tries to follow Christ- he is my inspiration. I believe in a God who is a maker of such wise beauty- both in the tiny and fragile, in the unseen and in the vast, a maker and builder of warmth, working science and art together in a way that never ceases to make me marvel- and let me never stop feeling wonder and awe at it all! I also believe that he has kept me going, sustained, inspired, kept me company and comforted me in some tough times. You're not likely to see me painting crosses and last suppers everywhere- that doesn't seem the answer for me, at least- that comes out when I write poems, sometimes, but that's there somewhere in my work- in my attitudes, in my passion for painting people and places and wildlife and the landscape, and in the appreciation of humble and rejected things. I'm far more likely to draw flowers written off as "weeds" than bunches of glossy cultivated ones. He's my biggest inspiration. Thank you.
Tom Sept 2023
My story is as follows: As a kid, I didn't enjoy going round galleries. That changed when, during GCSE art, I had to copy works by various artists. That made me understand a whole lot more, and when I was 16, my granny gave me most of her collection of art books- the prizes within being books of British drawings and the drawings of Augustus John. I had a pocket-money raise and started to buy cheap new Taschen art books, (my first ones were Dali and Van Gogh) and 2nd hand ones from a local bookshop. I also started to buy 2nd-hand books- CS Lewis, Moomin ones with better-quality printing of the illustrations. I was copying artworks for interest and fun. As a child I had copied and traced cartoons in comics. Now, it was Leonardo and Rembrandt. I was deeply interested in double-images and optical illusions.
However, when I did my degree course, I didn't like any of the contemporary art I was introduced to, either in lectures or in our visit to London. Perhaps my memory is poor, but it was all "conceptual" stuff, and, in my mind, tedious, boastful and trying to be much cleverer than it really was. And mostly without much beauty or artistic skill. Dismal stuff. I saw nothing that inspired me, or which I wanted to emulate. The art I met with in books was more interesting, better-executed, and more beautiful. I haven't found anything labelled "conceptual art" that has interested me, and I tend to just walk past, if I come across any, today. It's not worth it. The college library, though, had 7 volumes of Rembrandt's drawings, and that was a treat. As a teenager and occasionally since, I have copied the work of other artists- Leonardo da VInci, Arcimboldo, Raymond Harris Chang, Augustus John, Pissarro, Picasso, Van Gogh, MC Escher, Degas, Tolouse-Lautrec, and of course, Rembrandt. I can't think of any others, but this more or less stopped, on my degree course.
As a child, I copied cartoons in comics and annuals. In the past, I have done work that has tried to copy the styles of some of these artists, and a few more, like Pat Marriott, Tove Jansson. But can you see any of that in my work? I suppose the artists whose work I would most like to emulate include Rembrandt, of course, but the great cartoonist, Pont. I have tried to use his way of using off-scene commentary in titles.
And, having come away with a poor degree, in 1999, I didn't have the confidence to work in art, and so I shut the door and left it behind.
I went to the Velasquez show in London in maybe 2006, in spare time when I was there for an English teaching conference, and that's it. I had a brief walk through the Bournemouth Pinewalk Exhibition, and an exhibition of Hungarian lacework, in Kiskunhalas, but can't think of another exhibition I went to.
So, my art came in books- both books of pictures, and illustrations for stories, and of course, on calendars, T-shirts, mugs, CD covers, billboards, newspapers... I will never despise or write off illustration as a lesser form of art.
So it was that in 2013, when I went self-employed as an artist, I knew of no contemporary artists, other than a friend, Oliver West, whose work that I liked. I had lost touch with everyone else from college, and few had gone into art. I did subsequently reconnect with a few, and I began to meet local artists. In 2020, I started using Instagram, and than was a massive shock. Suddenly, my bubble was popped, and I saw wonderful art from all around the world. It was overwhelming.
But I can't think of any artist to put down as an influence.
Of course, I still have had influences, and this is an incomplete list of these:
Family and friends
These also include artists. I've got art on both sides of my family. It has been something appreciated and encouraged, and something thought of as worth doing. Thank you to everyone who does that! My schoolfriends were a big part of why I began making more and more art. I will say more in a bit.
Teachers and Technicians
The second lot, teachers and technicians. Ditto. Just to say that, like most people, I have met good ones, bad ones, and the in-between. The ones I appreciated best at school gave me the impression of entirely leaving me alone! The one who taught me most over the years was a lady called Brigitte (I'm not sure how you spell it) Dorrell. Thank you to her and to the others, and to my primary teachers, too.
My foundation teachers at Stroud School of Art- which has since become part of Stroud College- were varied, and a number were truly superb teachers. I was taught to do woodcuts by Simon Packard, for which I am very thankful, and had a great sculpture tutor- Tom Costello, who constantly enthused and encouraged and got us making things.
I found one of my tutors on my degree course, John Utting, who taught printmaking, an inspiration, and he taught me etching and drypoint, lithography and silkscreen, and a number of further printmaking techniques, but much of my time there was shaped by the other students around me, although not many people were making work that was the kind of thing I wanted to, myself.
What I always loved was when you had a teacher who freed you- who said- here is this and here is that- you could do a bit of this or try a bit of that- and encouraged me to go and pick up a lump of plaster and chisel and hack away at it, or sit down and do my first woodcut. To the teachers and technicians who care- thank you. You can make a real difference, and you won't always know it!
Other good art teachers and technicians I have had have included Ros Wise, the late Jill Shonk, Nan Godfrey, Terry Warner, the late great guy all-round- John Stadniki, Peter Walwin- who taught woodcarving, Michael Hickey- who taught botanical illustration, Ray Tanner, and the staff of Stroud Museum- Jonathan Wallis, Hugh Morrison, Cherry Knott... and there will be more I've forgotten.
Artists- Early Inspiration
The third group, artists. I must say that I have no interest in the snobbery you get in fine art that thinks fine art is something great and in some way above ceramics or illustration or wallpaper design. Rubbish! Every little thing that is made has the potential to be made well or badly. You can have top-quality art in a factory, a poster, or a mug- and the things we live with should be done well.
So, when I do finally get around to making a list of inspirational artists, they will include ones that you are more likely to see in children's books than on the walls of galleries- and so, in one of the most important places of all. After all, I had no love of art galleries as a kid, but I loved a good book.
Some of the most inspiring book artists for me have been Pat Marriott, (Joan Aiken and Williard Price books) Tove Jansson, (Moomins) Margery Gill, (Over Sea, Under Stone and some Frances Hodgson Burnett) John Vernon Lord, (The Runaway Rollerskate, etc) Jules Pfeiffer, (The Phantom Tollbooth) Edward Ardizzone, Desmond Digby, (Bottersnikes and Gumbles) Ralph Thompson, (various Gerald Durrell books) Harry Clark (The Secret Garden), Stephen Lavis, (covers of some of the Narnia ones, etc) and I could go on for a very long time- not all the ones you enjoy are necessarily inspirations.
Artists- Later Inspiration
If you want a list of artists, well, the things that get you inspired initially are not always the ones you hold onto. I can think of 3 artists' work I met with as a kid that I really loved, and which made me want to do more and more- an airbrush fantasy artist, Peter Pracownik, and a couple, John and Fiona Owen, sharing a studio in Chalford, Stroud, Glos. Look at my work and theirs, and you may wonder that they inspired me. They did.
And then, my granny gave me a pile of old art books, I had a pocket money rise, and discovered Tuckers 2nd Hand Bookshop in Stroud, and Booksale in Gloucester, and from a 16-year-old who didn't enjoy looking at art I became one who loved to do that and began collecting art books. Some of the first were Taschen ones on Dali and Van Gogh. I loved them both and still do. Amongst those inherited were a book of Augustus John's drawings, a Studio magazine from about 1921, with a focus on drawings and printing, and books on Rodin, Hokusai, etc. I bought second hand ones on Leonardo, Brueghel, Velazquez, and dozens more from the famous to the obscure, and I found Rembrandt.
Finally, as someone who calls themselves a Christian and tries to follow Christ- he is my inspiration. I believe in a God who is a maker of such wise beauty- both in the tiny and fragile, in the unseen and in the vast, a maker and builder of warmth, working science and art together in a way that never ceases to make me marvel- and let me never stop feeling wonder and awe at it all! I also believe that he has kept me going, sustained, inspired, kept me company and comforted me in some tough times. You're not likely to see me painting crosses and last suppers everywhere- that doesn't seem the answer for me, at least- that comes out when I write poems, sometimes, but that's there somewhere in my work- in my attitudes, in my passion for painting people and places and wildlife and the landscape, and in the appreciation of humble and rejected things. I'm far more likely to draw flowers written off as "weeds" than bunches of glossy cultivated ones. He's my biggest inspiration. Thank you.
Tom Sept 2023