KENTRA, ARDNAMURCHAN

Tom Shanks was born in Glasgow and started drawing at a young age, his family speak of him setting off with his sketchbook when they holidayed in Skye at the age of seven.  He held hopes of going to art school but after his father died when he was just ten, he was forced to leave school in his early teens to work in a carpet factory.  However, he continued to draw and paint and at the carpet factory he was able to start exhibiting his art.  During the war he remained a conscientious objector and was sent to do forestry work for the duration of the war.

It was after the war that he was able to fully realise his potential.  He started attending night classes at the Glasgow School of Art, which soon turned into full time study once his talent was spotted.  He won a prestigious travelling scholarship in 1950 which allowed him to paint in France, Italy and Belgium.

However, it was Scotland that truly held his heart, he returned there and married in 1953, moving to Kilbarchan, west of Glasgow.  He started working as a scenic artist for Rutherglen Rep Theatre and designed ceramic tiles for Edinburgh’s Dovecot Studios.  He also started to exhibit with Glasgow gallery Cyril Gerber Fine Art, and was elected to the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour in 1957, as well as training as an art teacher.

Shanks was a master at capturing the Scottish landscape, his exceptional skill with watercolour, and pen and ink bring to life the changing moods, light and weather of the Scottish mountains and lochs.  Among the artists he admired are Turner and Samuel Palmer, and it is possible to see echoes of them in his work. He continued to work en plein air well into his nineties, for him it was a vitally important part of his process.  In old age he decided to experiment with oil paint with great success, and in these works he retains his lightness of touch. 

Medium: Water-colour

Signed: Yes and titled

Size: 20 x 25cm