Andy Thompson

What is your background?

My background is mixed and varied and personally I feel, somewhat unique!

I have been exposed to creativity all my life. My parents were both teachers, my house contains some of their pottery and artworks.
I lived in Paris in my early 20's working as an au pair. I spent my free time wandering the streets of Paris, soaking it all in, Paris filled me with inspiration! I'm a very keen photographer and always see abstract forms and combinations.

I am a published poet and during the 8 years of being a house husband I still managed to write poetry, frequenting open mic sessions and local poetry groups.

During these years I always knew I wanted to paint. My eldest son took to painting in school and ended up doing a degree in fine art in Falmouth. He's now an art teacher.

The signs were there! I just needed my son to leave home so as I could express myself in my own way and not have him teach me!

I've always loved the abstract form. I was diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum some years ago and this made me think. I see the world in a different way. I notice things others don't, I deconstruct things and twist what I see.

This desire, skill, handicap, call it what you will has fed my poetry and now feeds my art.

What inspires you?

What I paint is how I see things. The triangles, the lines, the deconstruction, the chaos, it's all in my head and so comes out onto my canvasses.

What is your favourite subject matter and why?

I don't really have any. My favourite subject is the painting(s) I'm currently painting!

Who are your biggest influences?

I love the abstract work of Kandinsky, and the bare simplicity of Mondrian. Are they major influences of mine, maybe?

How have you stayed inspired and energized during the pandemic?

I started painting during lockdown, not because of lockdown. Until I physically can't paint anymore, until I can't find something to excite me to want to paint, until my back bedroom is so rammed full of my art that I can't fit any more work in there or until the world has run out of paint...
I will be inspired and I will paint!