Biography
Terry Coombes is a self-taught artist whose artistic journey is defined by a transition from the technical to the lyrical. With a professional background in Computer Science and Graphics,Terry brings a unique analytical eye to the canvas – a perspective that seeks to deconstruct the visual world into its essential forms.
Beginning his practice in 1993, Terry’s work gained early recognition through acceptance into the Derby City Open competition in 1994. Over three decades, his exploration of media has evolved from the opacity of gouache, through the translucence of pure watercolour to the meditative layering of colour pencil and beyond.
Today, his work sits at the intersection of Deconstruction and Lyrical Abstraction. This career-long evolution has culminated in his selection for the prestigious UK Colour Pencil Society’s (UKCPS) 25th Anniversary Exhibition (2026). Based in Staffordshire, Terry continues to push the boundaries of the colour pencil medium, seeking the synthesis between observed reality and emotional response.
A colour pencil “seed” – an idea in miniature as part of my process of creating a full-sized work.
About Me
I did my first painting 30-odd years ago. It was “Tip Still Waits on Howden”, inspired by the story of the sheepdog that stayed at the side of his dead master on the winter moors in the Peak District.
I was so pleased with the painting, I entered it into the Derby City Open art competition 1993/4 and it was accepted and exhibited. After that, I continued with gouache paintings – mostly of birds and farm animals, and mostly set in the Peak District.
Some years before this, I had designed and constructed a ‘black box’ device to capture images for onward processing by computer. This was before the arrival of graphics (or colour) on computer screens. This opened a lot of exciting possibilities for research, particularly at the Centre for Computer Archaeology at North Staffs Polytechnic where I worked. This was to whet my appetite for the practical side of Art.
Over the following years my art practice continued and after the Pandemic, I became a member of Bramshall Art Group, a community of artists with a great ethos of innovative energy.
My Current Work
Watching TV once, I saw a woman seated at a desk, wearing a vivid orange blouse. On the desk sat a bright blue vase. As I watched, the image of a kingfisher sprang to mind. The colours and the juxtaposition sparked this image and it occurred me that maybe this was what abstract art was all about.
I call that my “Kingfisher Apocalypse” – the revelation of the kingfisher.
I now know they have a word for that: Pareidolia, pronounced parry-dole-ear. It’s what happens when we see elephants and dragons in the clouds, or a lottery win in our tea leaves.
As time went by, I didn’t forget the incident but I did nothing about it. I did, however find that it was a not uncommon tactic used by artists to get ideas for their art. Eventually, I decided to try the approach to see where it might lead. I had some successes and some failures, but the idea showed promise.
After becoming a member of the UK Colour Pencil Society (UKCPS) I saw that the medium had enormous scope for expressing passion, intensity, vividness and poetry, and I began to experiment with different ways of using the ‘kingfisher’ effect, concluding that, for me, the most effective way was to begin with my own visions and emotions and analyze the raw elements of colour, form, edges and values that I found there. Once I isolated those elements, I could synthesize them into a new work, based purely on the emotional feelings that had motivated me in the first place. Starting with small sketches I called ‘seeds’, I would then work them up into full-sized pieces.
I’ve been told that this approach is consistent with Deconstruction and Lyrical Abstraction. If I need to be categorized at the moment, I’m happy with that.
One of my recent works following this approach has been accepted by the UKCPS Silver Anniversary Exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London in March 2026. This is a great honour and I feel very privileged to be included alongside so many great colour pencil artists.