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Meet The Artist: Will Rochfort

Does social media have an effect on what you paint?

I think social media changed everything for me and I’ve definitely only scratched the surface. It’s important not to be led by it - I’m definitely an artist first and a content creator second - but the more you put in, the more you’ll get out and I actually love it as a platform to share my work with a big audience and to meet new people. I get most of my work through social media and the majority is commissions, which I don’t mind because I only take on the work that I want to do, and is in the style of something I’d do anyway. But I don’t think it’s affected my work…if anything, I think knowing that a lot of people are going to see what I post, just makes me push harder to make the work better. I’d never want to post something I wasn’t happy with. 

How many years have you been painting, and what initially sparked your interest in art?

I’ve been painting with oils for about 17 years, but I’ve always been creative in some way or another. When I was little I would spend my time copying Disney characters off the TV or making models out of cardboard. As I got older I began to focus on portraiture and figure drawing, which then developed into painting but mostly with watercolours and acrylics and at the end of my first year in Uni I tried oils for the first time and then there was no going back! 

It’s no secret that my paintings are inspired by the great Norman Rockwell and his influence is still there today, but I think my style has relaxed slightly more recently, especially in the narrative aspect of it  - these days I’m much happier to leave a lot of the interpretation to the viewer. 

Tell me about your creative space, do you prefer to work in a clean or messy studio? 

My studio is my favourite place in the world. It’s not a huge space but it’s filled with props I’ve made, a couple of workbenches, all my paints, rolls of canvas, books and old palettes. I have drawers crammed full of sketches, photo references and more props. There’s a guitar on every wall, as well as works-in-progress and my kids drawings. The shelves are stacked with old suitcases, antique cameras, bowling balls, vintage cigarette packets and typewriters. It’s a really inspiring space for me and right in the middle is my easel. I like to tidy up every time I start a new painting, and then it slowly gets messier as I work…until the picture is done and I start over again!

The doors open out onto a field with horses and I’m surrounded by other units. There’s a really great community of small businesses which is nice for when I need a break – and a year ago they opened a bar up there as well…which always helps!

How do you take on a painting? Do you paint by colour or paint in sections?

I tend to work in sections and build the painting up slowly. Despite my pictures looking fairly realistic, I use quite big brushes and up close they are actually quite loose. There is always a stage at the start where it looks pretty terrible but it’s important to trust the process and keep going and (hopefully) the painting will start to come together.

When painting, do you like to listen to any podcasts or music to keep yourself occupied?

I always listen to podcasts. I find I can only listen to music for a few minutes before I start to lose focus…but with a good podcast I can concentrate on the words and the painting always flows much better. Knowing I have a 3 hour podcast to listen to whilst I paint is the perfect environment for me to get the most work done. I don’t think it affects the mood of the work but does provide the best space for me to be as creative as I can.

 

How do you stay motivated when facing any creative challenges?

When painting isn’t going as well as you want, I think it’s important to know whether you should walk away for a time or push on through. I really like a challenge so most of the time I find if I just keep on going I can fix what wasn’t working but sometimes it’s definitely better to have some space from the painting and come back with fresh eyes.

 

Tell me about your creative process, how do you go from a commission, to design, to painting?

I’m always coming up with new ideas and I’ve learnt that the initial prep work for my pictures is such a crucial part of my process. I’ve found that the more energy I put into that stage, the more successful (and easier) the painting will be. My process is always the same but varies depending on how complex the piece is and it’s probably easiest to describe it by using one of my paintings as an example:

I recently finished a commission that showed the opening night of Peter Pan in 1904, it was painted on a huge canvas and showed a theatre packed with people and hundreds of tiny details. The whole thing was a little daunting but my first step is always to scribble down quick ideas. I usually have a clear vision of how a painting will look from the very start but these drawings help to show what I’ll need to do for prep. The next step is to begin building props and sets or finding locations. In the case of the Peter Pan piece, we contacted a local theatre who gave us full access for a whole day, which was incredible. I built a few props; a cardboard cannon, costumes for the lost boys, Captain Hooks hook and parts of a pirate ship to go on the stage. Every element of my paintings is always entirely staged and I use my friends and family as models, so at this point I start to find people who would like to be in the scene. For this piece I used almost my entire family (I have a lot of nieces and nephews who were perfect for the Lost Boys!)

On the day of the shoot, I loaded a van and headed over to the theatre with Adam, a brilliant photographer that I work with on all my paintings. We always arrive early, in this case about 5 hours before the models start to turn up, to set up the lighting and arrange the set. I like to have everything ready to go so that when people arrive, we can get the shoot done as quickly as possible. I use those original sketches as a guide to show people where I want them to stand and what I want them to do… Adam is like my creative consultant on each shoot and always helps me with the composition but also takes care of the technical side, which means I can focus all my energy on directing the models. Then I run around and take hundreds of photos. There’s always room for improvisation and to try different poses but overall it stays the same as I originally drew it at the beginning. It’s sometimes super stressful but always loads of fun.

In contrast to this, for another painting, I had my brother in law pose as a travelling salesman, I asked him to pretend to be asleep in an elevator and we shot the whole thing in my studio and it took about an hour… and that was it! But I got everything I needed which is always the goal.

After the shoot is done I go away and take the best elements from each image and combine them into one compositional sketch. I’ll transfer this sketch to the canvas using either the grid method, my projector, or freehand – it all depends on the complexity of the piece – and then, finally, I start painting!

The painting stage is probably harder to describe because there is still an element of ‘working it out as I go’ and I never start a picture thinking that I know what I’m doing…but in a nutshell, I usually start at the back and work forward and always work from dark to light but leave the very darkest and the lightest points for last. I work alla prima rather than in layers, using a limited palette of just 5 colours – and I try to complete each section before moving on to the next. And then I just jump in and hope for the best!

 

What advice would you give an aspiring artist just starting their creative journey?

I think no matter what stage you’re at, it’s always going to be scary making the jump to go full time – so you just have to go for it. It’s not always the easiest way to make a living, especially when you’re starting out, but it can be the most rewarding. All I would say is you have to give it 100% and graft like mad because there’s no such thing as overnight success – it’s a long game and the more you put in the more you get out. When I started out I went up and down the country with my paintings literally under my arm and walked into galleries to introduce myself. I got turned away a lot but every now and again someone would take me on. I entered loads of art fairs and competitions (never won anything) and took every painting job I could get because it was all experience and I learnt the business on my feet.

I wanted to paint my usual big canvases but to start with I scaled everything back and painted smaller, simpler and more colourful scenes that sold cheap but sold well and (just about) covered the bills. I worked with local galleries and any venues who would show my work and slowly built from there. Nowadays I think it’s important to work on your social media presence too but that’s a whole other thing.

In the beginning you might hear no a lot more than yes from clients, galleries, shows… but you just got to keep going and, if you really want it, it will happen.

And take any opportunity that you can because you never know what it might lead to. Years ago I was home for the summer from university and my mum saw a tiny ad in the local paper asking for artwork for that years annual New Forest Show near where I live. They wanted equestrian art so I wasn’t going to bother, but my mum made me give them a call. I ended up sending in my figurative work and got excepted into the show. 2 years later, the lady who had curated the event called me up and said she had been asked to put together a group of artists from around the country in support of the 2012 London Olympics, and would I like to be involved? So even before leaving uni I was touring the country exhibiting and selling my work in some incredible places. A few years after that the same lady called me up again and told me she now ran a gallery at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 and would I like to exhibit with them… the gallery was right next to the 1st class lounge and suddenly I was meeting people that otherwise would never have seen my work let alone buy it for their homes, cinemas, hotels… it changed everything for me and I stayed at the gallery for 9 successful years. All that from a tiny ad in the paper that I nearly ignored. So really, I owe it all to my mum.

 

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