Born 1971 in country Victoria, Australia, Scott Thomlinson is a Sydney based artist, working hard at doing as little as possible (on the canvas). Self-taught and in the early stages of his painting career Scott still hasn’t settled stylistically and thinks he probably never will.
Since when do you paint and what are your favorite motives?
I have been painting for a little over 4 years now, after spending what seems like a lifetime in advertising.
I think my motivation comes from the fact that painting and finishing something that works on a wall isn’t easy. I love the challenge. Firstly, the painting needs to satisfy me and what I’m trying to achieve and secondly it has to speak to an audience loudly enough that one of them feels the need to want to have it and live with it.
That and the fact I never want to work in advertising again.
When you create a new work, how do you proceed? What comes first?
I plan my work. I don’t leave much to chance. I wish I could but I can’t. I will do dozens of roughs. Refine the ones I think have merit. Then pick the one I will paint and hope to hell that it’s the right one. This seems to work but there are times when I look at the final piece and think “Shit, I should have painted the other one!”
I also get a bit bored doing the same style of painting, so I find myself always trying something new. I tell myself that I probably should stick at the same style for longer but I just can’t seem to help myself. Hence why my work sometimes looks like it could be painted by different people.
From what do you get your inspiration?
I’d love to say nature and the world around me, but to be completely honest, I’m mostly inspired by other artist’s work. It doesn’t have to be anything like what I paint. I just find looking at other artist’s work gets me thinking about my own work and how I can make it better.
I also like to steel their colours.
Your life without art would be...
…me being way wealthier than I am now, doing something that I didn’t love nearly as much.
What is the best art place in your city at the moment?
I wish it was in Sydney but it isn’t. It’s in Tasmania. It’s MONA (Museum of old and new art). It’s simply breathtaking. Built by a professional gambler with an incurable art habit, MONA is 2 parts weird, 6 parts wonderful and 4 parts “you’ll never want to leave.
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