Russell Thorn the artist holding Missy, his mixed breed rescue dog from Bulgaria

About Russell Thorn, the artist.

Art has always been an interest and a passion for as long as I can remember.


Surprising my school teachers, choosing art other other subjects I was succeeding at.

Until studying A Level art at college I was very much limited to pencil drawings, drawing millimeters from the paper. My A-Level art teacher however, transformed the way I approached art. Enabling me to go from strength to strength. Ultimately teaching me to keep learning, experimenting and to keep an open mind.

I went from pencil drawing to trying my hand at most mediums and forms or painting and drawing. Spending my life always thinking about art and wanting to try everything, but only dipping my hand in the art box every now and then after leaving Uni with a graphic design and illustration degree.

2025 was when I decided he needed to do more of what I enjoyed, art being a sizeable chunk of what I enjoy. A turning point in deciding to draw and paint more often. Which was jump started with the self imposed mission of painting 31 portraits for my friend's birthday (opens in a new tab).

Oil bar painting in gold, silver and black of a man lying back, sat in a chair, surrounded by art room props.

A-Level art days

It was during study art for A-Level when I began to learn how to really draw and paint. I was also introduced to soft pastels and creating on a larger scale in a much more free and expressive way.


Sadly, I don't have evidence of much of my A-Level art, but this is an experimental painting. Painted with Windsor and Newton Oil Bars. They had only recently been released in the 90's, so I was an experimental early adopter. I painted this on a sheet of A1 paper, during a 3 hour life drawing session.

Uni illustration style

From `94 - `97 I studied a Ba in Graphic Design and Illustration. In which I specialised in illustration in the second and third year. As part of that I developed a geometrical dry brush technique. Due to moving around a lot over the I have mislaid pretty much all of my work from my years of art education, but I did come across this postcard of 2 of my final year illustrations in the belongings at my dad's funeral. Bless him, he had held onto this since the late 90's, til his passing in early 2024.

For all the Star Wars fan boys and girls

After leaving Uni, every now and then I keep painting and trying new things. Here are a couple of Star Wars themed paintings. Bobafett was painted over 5 months around the turn of the century. Photos taken on very old, pre smart phone era, hence them being very grainy. I gifted this painted to my nephew who was at the time interested in learning art. I hoped it would inspire him.


Darth Vader was a brief foray into trying spray paints in the mid 2000's. Painted freehand without masking or the use of stencils, on the large piece of scrap cardboard. This I signed and gifted to a friend for his birthday.


Click on each image to take a closer look.