Coming Home, Richard Thorn
Torre Abbey

When: 02 April 2016 to 29 May 2016
Where: Torre Abbey Historic House and Gardens
Time: 10.00 - 17.00
Cost: Included with normal admission fee (adults £7.85, Concession £6.45, Under 18s free)
Suitable for: Any age

Torre Abbey welcomes Richard Thorn back to the town of his birth and is delighted to show a new set of seascape and landscape watercolours of the coastline of Torbay and South Devon.

“The sea has been a prominent feature of my work since I began painting. The coast was a stones throw from my home and as a boy, would spend many hours on the beach and walking along the cliffs. These early experiences would prove invaluable for my later work. Torbay is a particularly beautiful bay with many hidden beaches, coves and harbour, providing a wealth of subject matter.”

The exhibition also includes a number of Thorn’s sketch-books, showing both drawings and pencil & wash paintings, made ‘in-situ’. These books provide great examples of Thorn’s working process and show both his spontaneity and passion for the landscape as his subject-matter.

“I wanted to loosen up my technique with my watercolours and this method proved to be a way of achieving that. I was originally attracted to watercolours because of the drawing and ‘sketchiness’ of the medium. But I found working almost solely in the studio was not giving me the loose results I wanted, hence the sketchbooks. This allowed me to return to my more finished work with more freshness and spontaneity.”

Born in Torquay in 1952, Thorn studied Art at the Newton Abbot School of Art. He has exhibited widely both in the UK and abroad. Richard Thorn’s work can also be seen at Haddon Galleries, Torquay.

- See more at: http://www.torre-abbey.org.uk/events/details/103/coming-home-richard-thorn-exhibition#sthash.Pour2WUE.dpuf