We have been learning about the Artist Peter Thorpe and the style of space-themed abstract art that he creates. The background to his artwork are abstract art – we have explored what this is and created our own – some of found it really hard to create work in this style. We then looked at the different images of space that he uses in the foreground of his artwork; chose our own medium and created a space image for our artwork.
How did Peter Thorpe start creating these images?
“I started the rocket paintings in the 1980s as a way to use paint that I would have otherwise thrown away. After each commercial job I did, there would be a pallet half full of paint left over and it pained me to toss it, but the next painting required a new pallet. It finally occurred to me that I could easily paint an abstract background on a blank board or canvas with the left over paint.”
“I started to do figures, landscapes, and, as a long time space fan, rockets and planets on top of the backgrounds. Some of the figures and landscapes got noticed, but everyone loved the rockets.”
“I have a life long love of space exploration, space science and science fiction, in that order. I’ve worked for years with pro-space groups as a graphic designer, and suddenly they were asking to buy my ‘fine-art’ rocket paintings.”
