Featured Artist - Tony Hinchliffe
My name is Tony Hinchliffe, I work as a full-time artist from my studio in Northamptonshire, I completed my first paying commission at 11 years old. Like all children, I started painting at a very early age and have been exploring my creativity ever since. I made the decision to go full time about 11 years ago I was working at the time in the ambulance service. I was off sick with fractured ribs through a boxing injury when I decided I had to know if it was possible to make a career as an artist. I have been working hard and enjoying it ever since.
I specialise in large skies and seascapes, I also paint figurative, abstract/realism, landscapes, animals and birds, as well as teaching a few painting workshops and evening classes.
The thing I enjoy most about painting a moody sky is the escapism when I paint some scenes I can really put my mind into being there as if I were physically standing in that space. This often evokes deep emotions to unfold, when this happens I will often use my creative writing to push the idea further. Recently I have been working on very large canvases depicting scenes from my imagination as opposed to using too much photographic reference so my work becomes much more personal to me and my feelings.
At present I am exploring the skies in my paramotor, studying the clouds at altitude flying around, above and sometimes inside them. The landscape at sunset is very interesting and at several thousand feet the rivers and lakes can reflect a moody sky in a very special way. When I land I make lots of colour notes and small paintings from the experience while my memories are still vivid, I then scale these ideas up into much larger paintings.
If I had one piece of advice to offer other artists It would be to keep exploring new ideas, have a plan before you start painting, be mindful of your feelings and be willing to experiment even if it means short term failure – some of my strongest work is born out of trying something different. I often have several works on the go at any one time as I find this gives me much more freedom to express how I feel on any given day.
As for goals, I try not to force an outcome as this can be very frustrating if it doesn’t work. Creativity is a fragile thing when inspiration comes, it’s important to act on it straight away and you will prevail.
I exhibit at several open exhibitions annually, including the Royal Society of Marine Painters and the Oxford Art Society. I recently held a solo exhibition at The Art in the Park Festival which was a great success. I sell my work through my agent Advocate Art and through my own website, and social media Hinchliffe Art. I will be exhibiting a few pieces at the Heseltine Gallery on 9th September through to 18th October 2019. It will be part of a group exhibition showing recent works of past students who studied art at Chenderit Secondary School.
Having one of my paintings displayed on someone’s wall is a very good advert; I also have a network of clients worldwide that I have built up over the last 15-20 years. Picture Frames Express has been supplying my frames for a few years now and the quality is second to none.
