Local artist Geoff Butterworth has become a well-known name in watercolour painting, with a career born not out of formal training or planned ambition, but from a life-changing accident and a deep passion for creativity.
He started painting in the late 70s after a serious motorcycle accident, and turned from oil paints to watercolour as “a means of starting afresh”.
His early career was a world away from the quiet focus of his studio. Leaving school and stepping into engineering, Geoff’s first job was in a local crane-making factory.
Geoff said: “The foreman asked me what I would like to do. The first thing I saw was a man welding, so I pointed at him and said ‘that’, and so that’s what I did. Later I moved to a larger firm and bought a motorbike.”
However, fate intervened when Geoff was injured in a serious crash. He continued: “I had a bad motorbike smash on the way to work. I went off motorbikes after that.”
Painting became therapy, discipline and eventually a career. With a severely broken leg and limited mobility, Geoff initially worked from photographs he had taken before the accident.
Geoff added: “I went to the local park and sat in a cold wind trying to paint a scene with a water wheel amongst the trees, and my mate had to carry my painting gear and a chair. The picture was just about there but pretty much rubbish in my opinion.
“I had some colour slide photos that I had taken of a castle in Wales and projected it onto my bedroom wall and I thought yes, I will draw around that and then paint it.”
With support from his family and persistence, Geoff began to refine his technique.
He continued: “My mum bought me some proper artists watercolours and a pad, and I set about working out how watercolours worked. I did it all wrong a few times until I figured out how to work from light to dark.”
His first exhibition took place in Littleborough, and from there his reputation grew. Inspired by local scenes and everyday buildings, Geoff’s work resonated far beyond Rochdale.
He concluded: “From my first exhibition I gained a good insight of subject matter which was all around, street scenes and buildings were prominent. I did loads of exhibitions winning awards around the country and travelling to galleries as far down as Kent.
“I have won awards worldwide, several in London and internationally, but it all comes back to my roots.
Geoff continues to teach and exhibit, including a permanent presence in Rochdale’s Exchange Shopping Centre and a dedicated gallery in Todmorden.
