Bo Hilton, the son of the artists Roger and Rose Hilton, grew up in Botallack a small village near St Just.

A very exposed place to grow up, getting the full force of the Atlantic and at other times shrouded in mist for weeks, this has left its influence in that alot of his work starts out as a response to coastal walks.

His childhood was full of art… paintings by Roger Hilton, Terry Frost, AlfredWallis and Peter Lanyon adorned the walls of the cottage. Growing up with such a high standard of painting meant what made the work great was absorbed at a young age.

These powerful works gave Bo a love of what art can express. Artists were constantly dropping in. Patrick Heron, Terry Frost and the poet W S Graham were frequent visitors. Bo remembers constant conversations about the space in painting which at that time was the space created by colour in abstract paintings. Heron made a big impression on Bo as a child and later would be a big influence.

Hilton loved his emphasis on colour and his intelligent writing about painting.

Other conversations about abstraction and figuration and doing less to say more also remembered.This has had a profound effect on him and is very much an influence in the abstract painting he is doing today.

After a degree in Zoology, (his mother advised him against being an artist!),Hilton managed to get on a post grad printmaking diploma at Brighton art school. This was awarded MA status whilst he was there, so he stayed onto get the MA. His MA show were three plate colour etchings, heavily influenced by John Hoyland’s etchings exploring colour relationships.

The next major artistic influence in Hilton’s life was the artist, Ken Howard.Howard was a friend of Bo’s mother (they both went to the Royal College in the 50’s) and Ken invited Bo to paint the model with him. This was important because it gave Hilton a thorough grounding in Academic principles …drawing, tone, using a limited palette, plein air painting etc.In a sense Bo did his art education in reverse!

For many years Bo made a living out of this tonal painting. Inevitably influenced by Howard’s style but also his mother’s painting and artists like Bonnard and Vuillard.

Currently Bo Is dividing his time between painting more abstract paintings about colour and plein air paintings on the beach and in the landscape that inform his abstract work.