Aviation Prints by Keith Woodcock

We are very fortunate to have the honour of producing the aviation prints of one of the worlds leading aviation artists, Keith Woodcock GAvA ASAA GMA.  We have published a beautiful selection aviation prints for your enjoyment, including Spitfires, Lancasters,  Hurricanes, B-24 Liberators, B-17 Flying Fortress, A C-130 Hercules, A Tiger Moth and even a Boeing C-17.  Please enjoy the selection.

Keith Woodcock was born on 19 April 1940 in yorkshire and educated at the Belle Vue Grammer School, Bradford and then later at the Salford school of art. He was to initially pursue a career in industry as a draftsman, however he soon progressed to technical illustration and publicity. In 1969 he started a freelance career as a graphic designer/illustrator. During the early eighties much of British industry had slumped and it quickly became apparent to Keith that there was going to little freelance work available as companies dramatically cut back on spending..

To make a living, in 1982, Keith turned to his real love painting. He specialised initially in aviation but then later added motoring art to his repertoire. He was quickly elected a full member of both the Guild of Aviation Artists (GAVA) and the Guild of Motoring Artists (GMA). He has also recently been elected an Artists Fellow of the American Society of Aviation Artists (ASAA).

In 1985 he gained the Par Excellence award at the Oshkosh International Art Exhibition, Wisconsin, U.S.A. He then won the £1000 Aviation Painting of the Year award at the Guild of Aviation Artists Annual London Exhibition in 1986. In 1989 he was awarded the Wilkinson Sword Trophy for the best oil painting at the Guild of Aviation Artists Annual London Exhibition.

He has extibited extensively in the U.K., Germany, Italy and America since 1986 and his paintings hang in the Royal Air Force Museum, Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, British Aerospace and other corporate, service and private collections world wide.

He has had many limited and open edition prints punblished after his work, often signed by notable figures from aviation and motoring history, such as Sir David Brown, Stirling Moss and Gunther Rall. He has also seen much of his work used to illustrate specialist books on the subjects.

Until now, he has catered almost entirely for the motoring and aviation enthusiast market where the success of a print hinges largely on the signature of the pilot or driver. However Keith Woodcocks work is important in its own right, he has a wonderful strength coupled with sensitivity in his use of paint, while his use of light is powerfully atmospheric, even, at times, dramatic. It is this use of light that Keith feels separates the artist from the illustrator and the artist from the photographer.

Keith Woodcock remains one of the leading painters of wings and wheels, it is through the use of light and atmosphere that Keith wishes to see his work appeal to a wider spectrum of people, not just the enthusiast but the family as well, which is why he has joined forces with us, Sally Mitchell fine arts to produce his prints.