Thomas Bradshaw was born in 1972 to a creatively rich family. His father is a dentist and a Baptist minister. His grandmother, an oil painter herself, instilled a love of drawing and painting in him very early. Drawing Star Wars characters after school became his daily ritual. His high school art teacher guided him to the Art Institute of Atlanta where he studied graphic design. At that time there was a stigma about becoming an artist and being able to eek out a living. Thomas moved after graduation to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to spread his wingsl there he fell in love with the western landscape. His love of being outside and his of art art eventually came to be fulfilled.
"I have always loved seeing a painterly painted painting," Thomas has often said. "Jackson Hole was a place I could immerse myself in the style of art that I loved to study."
Thomas has been painting en plein air since he first decided to take a French easel out to a local golf course and capture the day. This has been his love, drive, and goal ever since. He strives to convey the beauty that surrounds us every day in a way that brings the viewer into the painting, to stop and invoke a memory of time that only happens once. Every time we step outdoors to paint ,we are faced with bugs, humidity, sun in our faces, sun on the palette, and wind, rain, or snow! So we have to overcome those challenges and produce a finished painting.
“I am able to imply detail without overstating it. Brushwork and palette knife together create a textural Impressionism and paint quality which entice a closer look, while it is through a little distance that my paintings become realistic portals into a time and place.”
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