Whether working
to capture a moment, place or person who has sparked his
imagination, or in bringing to life a much loved pet in
a commissioned painting, George Kennedy relies upon his gut
instincts to express the essence of his subject.
Art has been a passion for George ever since he started
Primary School and got his hands on the school’s
art materials. All through his adolescence and on into
adult life he’s kept a sketch pad close in order
to set down on paper things that make an impression on
his imagination.
George’s artwork has been shown and sold across Scotland.
His first formal art exhibition came in 1990, when he displayed
his popular series of East Lothian landscape paintings at the Peter
Potter Gallery in Haddington.
Working from his studio near Arbroath, George strives to fulfil his artistic
goal: to explore and develop his unique approach to painting.
Because he has never been formally trained he enjoys the
freedom that working outside of established rules brings
to his art. At the core of his artistic philosophy is
a desire to be natural; to express himself in his own
way. In the time George has been painting with
oils, his artistic style has developed through a single-minded
determination to put past lessons into practise and use
his personal passion to develop as an artist.
Taking a photo as his starting point, George embarks upon
a series of pencil sketches working and reworking until
he’s composed the subject in a way that reflects
how the finished painting will look. This is the hardest
part. It’s only when the sketch is right that he
will pick up a brush and begin the careful process of
bringing his subject to life. Instinctively layering the
oil paints to evoke texture, he works across the whole
painting bringing it alive: layer by layer, brushstroke
by brushstroke.
Unlike most formally trained artists, George’s approach
is an emotional one: painting is an inherent part of him.
It’s not possible to separate him from his work:
without painting, and the freedom of expression it allows
him, George would be lost.
It is this depth of feeling and level of personal commitment
to each and every project that results in beautiful works
of art; and often provokes emotional reactions from his
clients. It’s when he sees the happiness on a patron’s
face that he knows his professional passion has transformed
a photo or an idea into a living, breathing work of art.
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