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GEOFF BUTTERWORTH



 Watercolour Artist








 Rolling hills, picturesque villages, and idyllic days  art college material and ended up in engineering.”
 of nostalgia.
 After a motorbike accident at the age of 22, Geoff
 The chances are if you are looking at a watercolour  returned to painting, picking up the oil paints he had
 painting of Rochdale and surrounding areas, you will  enjoyed using as a child.
 have stumbled upon a Geoff Butterworth: a name
 synonymous with stunning landscapes, exhibiting  It wasn’t until the following Christmas that Geoff
 around 60 paintings a year.  was introduced to the medium he is most famously
 associated with – watercolour.
 Geoff said: “I was always good at art, but when I
 went to enrol at the art college I was told I was not  He said: “I took to it straight away as it is a cracking  medium to work with. Mum had bought me some  He explained: “I was working on this picture when
         good artist watercolours and I began to copy the     I had my studio in Littleborough. I had my headphones
         colour photos from a book. I tried to make them as   on with loud music and, somehow, I saw pebbles
         realistic as I could.                                bouncing off the window. It turned out a car in the
                                                              garage below was on fire, and I had to get out.
         “I love the end result. I’ve used other mediums but
         always find myself coming back to watercolours.”     “I was half way through this painting, so I grabbed it
                                                              and some brushes, and finished it off at home on the
         By his own admission, in 1980 Geoff received his     kitchen table. I would never sell it.”
         lucky break that lead to his success in Rochdale.
                                                              That same painting also won Geoff a £1,000 prize in
         He said: “I saw an advert for a new furniture shop   1990 at the Laing Landscape competition at the Mall
         looking for photos. I took 12 watercolours to show   Gallery in London.
         and they wanted to stock 40 so I had to get cracking.”
                                                              The small Yorkshire village, just a stone’s throw away
         By September that same year, Geoff had sold several  from Littleborough, remains one of his favourite
         paintings and became self-employed. His first        subjects, although he cites Castle Combe as a close
         exhibition was held at Rivington, set up by a friend  second as he had previously painted the Wiltshire
         who lived at Stubley Hall in Littleborough and knew  village from a book before visiting in person.
         the gallery’s owners. This show taught him what
         would sell in commercial galleries.                  Rochdale Town Hall has also featured heavily in
                                                              Geoff’s work over the years, particularly in
         He added: “I was still in plaster from my accident   illustrations of the town during the 1960s.
         when I completed my first local scene. A friend of
         mine who lived in Littleborough met me at the park   He smiled: “I have painted the Town Hall so many
         and I painted the water wheel of the old library. It  times, and Rochdale in the 1960s, as I remembered
         started raining so I finished it off at home.”       it as a child. I went nearly every Saturday: I loved
                                                              Yorkshire St in 1968 with the square, the old cinema
         Whilst Geoff has painted hundreds of landscapes      and the hundreds of people walking along the street.”
         over the years, a summer scene of transport links in
 Achievements during Geoff’s career include winning the Best Picture award at the British Society of   Walsden remains his firm favourite.  Geoff’s current exhibition can be viewed in the
 Painters Exhibition for three consecutive years.             Rochdale Exchange Shopping Centre.
 He was elected to join The Royal Society of Arts and The International Guild of Artists.
 He was subsequently made an Associate of the British Watercolour Society as a result of the consistent   www.geoffbutterworth.co.uk
 high quality of his work.

 REAL ROCHDALE - SPRING 2019  8                            9                       REAL ROCHDALE - SPRING 2019
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