Gordon King
Gordon King was born on the 6th of June in the 1939 and was brought up in Reading in Berkshire. Before moving to Reading he had spent his younger days on the coast of Fife Scotland and from the age of 7, he went on to win a number of awards at major art competitions demonstrating his artistic skills. Upon leaving school he received training at Carlton Studios in London, focusing on illustration, while studying life drawing and painting at the University of Reading.
He worked independently over the next 20 years undertaking illustrations for major magazines and advertising agencies. Gradually he started to paint portraits full time and he exhibited his work in major galleries until the mid 70s. His work shown at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in London and at the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, mainly consisted of figurative subjects and earned him much popularity and credit.
Following that, the girls in the wild became his trademark and the popularity of watercolours coupled with his mastery brought him immense success with the rising demand for his prints, limited-editions and silk screens that were published by Washington Verde.
In the year 1995, he published his first book, “A Romance with Art” which included a wide range of his work in oil and watercolours. He was televised painting live for a number of television programmes including the BBC2 art series, “Close Up,” Channel 5 “Open House” and Sky Sports on the PGA short course championships.
He published his second book, “Drawn to Life” in celebration of his 60th birthday in 1999 and his work was featured in an exhibition of his work at the Halcyon Gallery in the ICC, Birmingham. He has a few prestigious awards under his belt including “Live Artist of the Year” from Art Trade Guild and he contested and won a place in the Singer & Friedlander watercolour competition.