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Geoff Tristram is a successful painter, illustrator and cartoonist.

Black Country born and bred, he has spent over thirty years producing drawings and paintings for well-known companies from all over the world. 

Geoff at work

The Stourbridge based artist has now embarked on another new endeavour – he is releasing a series of comedy novels set in the Black Country.

Loosely based on his own experiences as a struggling art student, the books follow the misadventures of the hapless David Day.

"It's so nice," says Geoff. "I've always been such a big fan of farce. The idea of feckless characters in mundane situations that spiral out of control with hilarious consequences, like Fawlty Towers. I'm a massive P.G Wodehouse fan. I'm so flattered when reviewers compare my work to his."

The second book in the series – Monet Trouble – has just been released and Geoff is writing several more.

Geoff's landscapes - Lake Maggiore

Painting

But the painter-turned-author is still churning out all manner of pictures for a variety of companies.

These include a Christmas health and safety cartoon book and his beautiful cat conundrums – jigsaw puzzles with subliminal images contained within the whole that he calls 'puzzles within puzzles.'

Geoff clearly has real talent.

"From when I was about three or four you wouldn't find me without a pencil in my hand," he laughs.

"All I wanted to do was draw and paint. It's funny – occasionally I still bump into old friends from Quarry Bank Junior School and they always say: 'Alright Geoff - where's your pencil?'"

Aston Villa by Geoff Tristram

Growing up

A childhood immersed in paints and pens led to a stretch at Wolverhampton Art College where Geoff perfected his craft.

A year of employment in Dudley Council’s art department followed until Geoff realised that a freelancing career was the best thing for him.

"Someone offered me some cash for a few paintings," he says. "I was about 24 so it wasn't a hard decision! I quickly realised that I could make more money freelancing than I could working for the council, so I decided to go for it. Things just really snowballed from there."

Over the last 30 years, Geoff has worked for hundreds of companies, doing everything from fine art and illustration, to cartoons and caricatures.

In the 1980s he painted several postage stamp collections, including the Charles and Diana Royal Wedding. He has been asked to paint portraits of world champions, Premier League sportsmen and celebrities.

Health and safety cartoons

Geoff's cartoons are a regular feature of the World Snooker Championships, and he has even designed a box for Trivial Pursuit.

A new venture

Nonetheless, a few years ago, Geoff had the urge to branch out into a completely new venture – writing.

"After 30 years of painting, I realised that I wasn't doing it for fun anymore. It was just business. I guess I got a bit restless.

"My brother David had become an enormously successful comedy playwright. Being a student of the famed Black Country humour, I just felt that I couldn't express myself fully by painting alone anymore.

"I'd never written anything more than captions for some of my cartoons. But, you know, they always say to write about what you know. So I created the character of David Day, who's basically a hammed up version of myself!"

Geoff at work

Geoff's new book – Monet Trouble – follows Day's attempts to make it as an art student in Wolverhampton. The feckless David soon becomes embroiled in the shadowy world of art forgery with hilariously disastrous results.

The Black Country

It was important though for Geoff to set the novel in and around the Black Country.

"The Black Country shaped me as an artist," he says. "Growing up in a council house in Quarry Bank meant that I had to really develop my realism. I couldn't get all flashy with abstract images – my family would just laugh and say 'what the hell is that supposed to be?' (laughs).

"I wanted to set the book in this area so local people could really relate to it and feel part of it. Everything published these days seems to be set in London or Manchester, but the Black Country has such a rich local history that it was an obvious choice for location.

Cat illustration

"I'm very proud of the books and I think local people will really appreciate the humour. Art has been my life but this is a new way for me to express myself. I hope people have as much fun reading them as I did writing them!"

Monet Trouble by Geoff Tristram is on sale in various bookshops around the Black Country.