Simon Thwaites was born In Portsmouth, England 1962 at the age of 13 his family immigrated to Canada. He now resides in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
As a child Simon has always dabbled in art. One of his first paintings; A finger painting at age 6 of a scene from ‘Wind in the Willows’ was displayed with pride in a local art show. That experience laid part of the foundation of Simon’s love of drawing and painting.
Simon’s work is a natural extension of himself not chiseled to a fine edge by art colleges or university degrees but developed over the years simply because of a love for using his hands and creating art as an outlet to express emotions and feelings. Using various mediums and techniques his work is interpretive, embodying a masculine solidness to most of his work. This allows one to be inspired for a brief moment escaping the everyday world and be lost in the message of the art being viewed.
His focus over the last few years has been on exploring acrylics and oil painting embracing new projects which challenge his abilities.
The Inspiration behind the Artist;
One sometimes wonders were an artist gets his ideas from. Simon’s life has had many twists and turns. Starting in England as a small boy in a closed environment in Boarding Schools and then exposed to the vast openness of Canada. His art has elements of both a ridged solidness but at times reflects the wanton lust of freedom. His experience of being in the Canadian Navy opened up numerous cultures and artistic styles. The affect of becoming HIV+/AIDS in the early 80’s has been a major player in the last 20+ years and reflects a deeper spiritual connection one can develop when faced with death.
His personal favorite artists are Spanish Cubist painter Pablo Picasso, surrealist painter Salvador Dali and wildlife painter Glen Loates. From each you can find some of the inspiration Simon draws on from the Cubist slicing of images into raw geometric forms and use of bold color. The incorporation of surrealistic and hidden messages within Salvador Dali’s paintings and in some the connection with nature as expressed by Glen Loates. Their influence has created the unique bold, colorful, inspirational, hidden meanings that Simon employs in his work.