Local artist Geoff Butterworth has two watercolours on display in London

Two paintings of Northern scenery by local artist Geoff Butterworth are being exhibited in London.

Geoff’s paintings of Bacup at Christmas and Blackstone Edge are being displayed from Thursday (14 April) in the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours Exhibition at the Mall Galleries.

Geoff, 70, is no stranger to the exhibition, having had his paintings displayed there previously, winning an award in 2020.
 

Read more: Local artist Geoff Butterworth wins Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours Exhibition awardPublished: 04 April 2020

 

 

Geoff said: “With the Mall Gallery website, you can view the whole caboodle by scrolling through the rooms and floors. My two are very prominent: as most people come in and walk down some steps into the main hall, they are right there on the wall, much larger than the others. In black frames, they really draw your eye.

“They are quite large pictures and I wanted to produce something that would stick in people’s minds. I think they should. There are a lot of prizes to be had in this exhibition and in the past, I have won two prizes which I am proud of, it is regarded worldwide as the best for watercolourists.

“Each picture speaks a thousand words.”

Geoff – who has a permanent gallery in the Rochdale Exchange Shopping Centre – began painting at a young age, before returning to it wholeheartedly at the age of 22 following a motorbike accident.

It wasn’t until the following Christmas that Geoff was introduced to the medium he is most famously associated with – watercolour.

 

 

By September 1980 Geoff had sold several paintings and became self-employed. His first exhibition was held at Rivington, set up by a friend who lived at Stubley Hall in Littleborough and knew the gallery’s owners.

Geoff’s gallery in the Rochdale Exchange Shopping Centre is open between 10am and 4pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of each week.

The Royal Institute’s exhibition is the largest exhibition of contemporary water-based media paintings in the world, and is on display until 23 April.