David Thorp was born and bred in Ruthin, Denbighshire, North Wales, and was six years of age when WW2 broke out.
Having been a 'natural' artist from an early age, David was awarded a prize at his elementary school for winning a poster competition at the age of seven. The poster was to celebrate the success of the RAF at the Battle of Britain, and David's poster of a Spitfire shooting down a Messerchmitt 109, earned David a prize of 10 shillings (50p). His father had served in the merchant navy in WW1, but was too old to be conscripted for WW2, so he joined the Home Guard, and after a short time was the Captain of the 9th Denbighshire Battalion of the Royal Welch Fusiliers Home Guard in Ruthin.
David became very interested in the activities of the Home Guard, and at the age of ten his father taught him to shoot a .220 rifle, and then a .Springfield 'P14' .303 Service rifle, and a .38 cal service revolver as issued to Home Guard Officers, and towards the end of the War he became the 'Mascot' of the '9th Den' as it was known, and quite often accompanied them on some training sorties. The garage at their home was full of cases of .303. rifle ammunition, Mills bombs (hand grenades ) sticky bombs, fuse wire and blasting powder (health & Safety, eat your heart out !) which David became very adept at handling. In fact on one training afternoon at the local golf course which had been taken over for training .purposes, David managed to make an extra bunker at the 18th hole on the Golf course with a Sticky Bomb. When David was fourteen, he started going with his father to Rifle Competitions in Bisley, Surrey, where in 1948 they both got into the final stage of the Queens Prize, but were eventually knocked out.
His father recognised that David was never going to be an academic, and he was transferred the the North Wales Art College (NEWI) at Wrexham where he took a three year course in Art.
Another three years at the Central School of Art in London studying Industrial Design gave David his first job in London, when he was snapped up by Ford Motor Company to work in their Styling Department in Dagenham, where one of his best successes was the front end styling of the Ford Classic Capri car, which was the first car in UK to have four headlights in the 1950's.
Six years later after a spell designing and building Fibreglass sports car bodies for donor cars, (known today as a Kit Car) David moved to Birmingham to take up a post as an Industrial Designer for a Company in Solihull, and was soon involved in designing products for the Plastics industry, which was then becoming established in the UK. Whilst abroad, David had seen beer being delivered in Plastic crates, and after studying the Beer and soft drinks operations in the UK, he decided that there were tremendous advantages for manufacturers of soft drinks and Beer in the cost of transportation and handling, as plastic crates were less than half the weight of a wooden crate, and they did not get heavier when they were wet !
Now, in 'retirement' he specialises in reconstructive paintings, making a 'photograph' of an event that wasn't photographed: if Mrs Jones' son or husband was involved in a particular event / action at a certain place / flying a certain plane / driving a tank / landing craft, and she wants a painting or a portrait to commemorate this, David will painstakingly research the details and then produce a painting which will be as near to a coloured photograph as possible. He enjoys the research sometimes more than doing the painting!
Many of David's paintings, prints, postcards and commissions are displayed throughout museums, galleries, clubs, associations and homes, including coverage on several television programs, publications and newspapers. Some of the paintings featured were commissions of which there are now no prints available, but some prints and some originals are available for you to buy. Please go to Gallery Shop to find out which prints are available. Do look through the ever changing selection of paintings within David's Gallery page, also in the What Can I Do For YOU link below too... Would you like a painting to encapsulate your story for ever - contact David today.
If you need anything on canvas to pass on to your grandchildren, look no further!
Next Page
Having been a 'natural' artist from an early age, David was awarded a prize at his elementary school for winning a poster competition at the age of seven. The poster was to celebrate the success of the RAF at the Battle of Britain, and David's poster of a Spitfire shooting down a Messerchmitt 109, earned David a prize of 10 shillings (50p). His father had served in the merchant navy in WW1, but was too old to be conscripted for WW2, so he joined the Home Guard, and after a short time was the Captain of the 9th Denbighshire Battalion of the Royal Welch Fusiliers Home Guard in Ruthin.
David became very interested in the activities of the Home Guard, and at the age of ten his father taught him to shoot a .220 rifle, and then a .Springfield 'P14' .303 Service rifle, and a .38 cal service revolver as issued to Home Guard Officers, and towards the end of the War he became the 'Mascot' of the '9th Den' as it was known, and quite often accompanied them on some training sorties. The garage at their home was full of cases of .303. rifle ammunition, Mills bombs (hand grenades ) sticky bombs, fuse wire and blasting powder (health & Safety, eat your heart out !) which David became very adept at handling. In fact on one training afternoon at the local golf course which had been taken over for training .purposes, David managed to make an extra bunker at the 18th hole on the Golf course with a Sticky Bomb. When David was fourteen, he started going with his father to Rifle Competitions in Bisley, Surrey, where in 1948 they both got into the final stage of the Queens Prize, but were eventually knocked out.
His father recognised that David was never going to be an academic, and he was transferred the the North Wales Art College (NEWI) at Wrexham where he took a three year course in Art.
Another three years at the Central School of Art in London studying Industrial Design gave David his first job in London, when he was snapped up by Ford Motor Company to work in their Styling Department in Dagenham, where one of his best successes was the front end styling of the Ford Classic Capri car, which was the first car in UK to have four headlights in the 1950's.
Six years later after a spell designing and building Fibreglass sports car bodies for donor cars, (known today as a Kit Car) David moved to Birmingham to take up a post as an Industrial Designer for a Company in Solihull, and was soon involved in designing products for the Plastics industry, which was then becoming established in the UK. Whilst abroad, David had seen beer being delivered in Plastic crates, and after studying the Beer and soft drinks operations in the UK, he decided that there were tremendous advantages for manufacturers of soft drinks and Beer in the cost of transportation and handling, as plastic crates were less than half the weight of a wooden crate, and they did not get heavier when they were wet !
Now, in 'retirement' he specialises in reconstructive paintings, making a 'photograph' of an event that wasn't photographed: if Mrs Jones' son or husband was involved in a particular event / action at a certain place / flying a certain plane / driving a tank / landing craft, and she wants a painting or a portrait to commemorate this, David will painstakingly research the details and then produce a painting which will be as near to a coloured photograph as possible. He enjoys the research sometimes more than doing the painting!
Many of David's paintings, prints, postcards and commissions are displayed throughout museums, galleries, clubs, associations and homes, including coverage on several television programs, publications and newspapers. Some of the paintings featured were commissions of which there are now no prints available, but some prints and some originals are available for you to buy. Please go to Gallery Shop to find out which prints are available. Do look through the ever changing selection of paintings within David's Gallery page, also in the What Can I Do For YOU link below too... Would you like a painting to encapsulate your story for ever - contact David today.
If you need anything on canvas to pass on to your grandchildren, look no further!
Next Page
