The Artist
Trevor Goodwin
was brought up on Langley Estate in Middleton in the mid-sixties,
quite a tough area according to Trevor. Of his education he
says:
“The
only subject I liked at high school was art, which was only
spoilt by the art teacher who called everybody "Rover"!
Political correctness had not been invented yet."
Trevor's
first ever painting was of a Border Collie which he made for
his grandmother when he was just twelve years old, but as Trevor
says:
"Looking
back, it wasn’t that great, but I was hooked I just loved
the whole process. Can one get addicted to pure turpentine
and linseed oil?"
It was then
that he decided that he wanted to be a commercial artist when
he left school. However, that was quickly 'undecided', when
a fitter who worked with his father commented that ”he
will never make an artist 'cos he’s left-handed”!
Is there
such a thing as left-handsiam?
The qualifications
he didn’t manage to achieve at school were made up for
by his pure enthusiasm for his unadulterated love of art.
Although
he has sold many paintings Trev still gets emotional when a
total stranger likes his work enough to pay their hard earned
money for a painting. "I consider it a great honour”,
says Trev.
Trevor's
son Simon says of his father:
"He
is quite bohemian and off the wall; he wears a floppy hat,
rides a motorbike, has a parrot called Clapton and paints
his toenails black (for no other reason than he can do).
His work is very individual the black background produces
an almost chiaroscuro effect. He is self-taught has shown
and sold his work in galleries, through music shops, has appeared
in local newspapers and just recently was asked to appear
on BBC radio Manchester".
