About Geoff Butterworth

The Artist

The Artist

BacupGeoff Butterworth's development as an artist coincided with the emergence of a new environment in the North of England - the Post Industrial landscape.

He records the northern scene as it is today, emerging from its grimy industrial past, its countryside sweeping back, its Pennine moors subtly-hued, the old stone buildings of its upland towns warmed by a brighter sun. The same sund warms the couples strolling in a light-filled city square too, seen from the depths of a sharp-shadowed Victorian arcade.

Northern light is, they say, "different". It is the portrayal of this light which marks out a Butterworth painting and gives it its special quality. The light sweeps in, lifting the subject clear of the background and giving it an almost magical iridescence. Here is the work of a masterly painter, totally at ease with his subjects and his technique. His work is elegant, sophisticated and "accessible" - using that much-abused word in the best sense. His view is fresh, close-to-home, pleasing and truthful.

Geoff is available to undertake commissions. For more details, please get in touch:.

Geoff Butterworth CV

A timeline of accolades
  • 1986: Elected Member of the Society of Artists
  • 1986: Invited Member of the Yorkshire Itenerants Society
  • 1987: Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
  • 1996: Elected Member of the British Watercolour Society
  • 1997: Winner of the BWS watercolour Exhibition at Ilkley
  • 1998: Winner of the BWS watercolour Exhibitions twice over
  • 1998: Elected a Fellow of the International Guild of Artists
  • 1999: Laing Landscape and Seascape Competition Public vote Best Painting at the Mall Gallery London
  • 2000: Major Prize winner at the Mall Gallery Laing Competition
  • 2007: Elected into the Birmingham Watercolour Society
  • 2008: Major Prize winner at Birmingham Watercolour Society's Centenary exhibition at St. Pauls Gallery, Birmingham
  • Exhibited in the Not the Turner Prize twice
  • 2009-2013: Exhibited in the Singer and Friedlander Watercolour Competitions three times
  • Artist in Residence at Towneley Hall Lancashire
  • 2010-2016: Artist in Residence with Northern Life Magazine
  • Elected Northern England Representative of the International Guild of Artists
  • 2017: Major Prize winner in the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour competition. The Matt Bruce Memorial Prize for outstanding use of Light and Colour.
  • 2018: Two works exhibited in the Mall Gallery RI Watercolour Exhibition
  • 2018: Prize winner in the Global Association of Watercolour Artists Competition.
  • 2019 Works accepted and sold at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours. Mall Gallery London.
  • 2020 Winner of the Neil Meacher Prize for an Outstanding Watercolour at the Royal Institute, Mall Gallery London
  • 2021 One of Six Winners of the INTERNATIONAL WATERCOLOUR MASTERS worldwide watercolour competition.