Thornthwaite Galleries - Chris Pollard

Featured exhibitors:

Chris Pollard

Chris lives and works in Sheffield, close to the moors of the Peak District. His paintings seldom reflect the gentle undulations of Constable's countryside with their palette of greens and browns, but his inspiration comes from the diverse changes in the weather, and its effect on the landscape.

Buttermere

Picture postcard scenes become atmospheric compositions with a startling use of colour. He likes the changing light on a stormy day, where shafts of sunlight pierce the mists and light up a small section of fell. Chris studied for a HND in Graphic Design at Swindon School of Art and then onto Cornwall College of Art for four years. He then started working for a design consultancy in Reading whose head office was in Sheffield. One thing lead to another, as it does, and he found himself being able to earn a living from his landscapes.

Ullswater

Chris tries to capture the emotions he feels about a place, the excitement of a trip to the Lakes, or a sombre walk around Kinder Scout in the mist. Everybody has their own feelings about a place, and if their emotions are stirred by what he paints then he feels he has achieved something.

Chris’s first introductions to the grand designs of the landscape didn't come from Oxfordshire's rolling pastures and meandering Thames of his youth, but trips ‘up-north’ to Lancashire.

Gable

Skiddaw Sunset

The promise of a sighting of Blackpool Tower from the top of Pendle Hill if he was a good boy.... a visit from one of Pendle's notorious witches if he wasn't... Chris can't remember ever seeing the tower, but he did have one or two nightmares!!!!!. So the day trips from Burnley into the Dales and beyond have sown the seeds of affection he has for the countryside. Living in Sheffield has introduced Chris to the drama of the Peak District. He has spent many days on the brooding moors around the Derwent watershed, and the edges that run down to Chatsworth.Chris’s paintings try to capture the atmosphere of the landscape. There isn't the detail you might find in a traditional watercolour, but more of an impression. He likes bold use of colour. He enjoys breaking the rules of painting by using the 'wrong' colours, and sometimes the most interesting effects come along purely by accident, it's controlling those accidents which is the tricky bit!