Colin Simmonds

Colin Simmonds trained at the Moseley School of Art before furthering his education at the Birmingham College of Art and Birmingham School of Art Education. 

Colin's choice of subject matter extends from landcapes of the surrounding rolling countryside of Herefordshire and bustling centres of Birmingham and Worcester to domestic scenes, which have resulted in his poignant oil portraits.

More recently Colin has been painting a series of flower paintings, enjoying the immediacy of the compositions and textures.  He now works towards achieving in landscape painting the fluency and abstract qualities of the flower paintings.

His studio is now at his current home in Stoke Lacy, Herefordshire.  Prior to moving to the area, Colin taught for many years in Kidderminster.

In 2007 Colin was the recipient of the First Prize, Birmingham and West Midlands Pastel Society.  He was also awarded the Winsor and Newton Prize, RBSA Open Exhibition in 2002 as well as many prizes in portraiture and landscape painting.  He has exhibited at the Mall Galleries, London, and his works are currently with the West Midlands Arts Council.  

Landscapes and Still Lifes

Portraits

John Darlison

John Darlison began painting in 1977 and since that time has specialised in landscapes and seascapes in watercolour, pastel and oils.  His aim is to evoke atmosphere and a sense of place in his paintings, whether it be the wild mountain landscape, the quiet of a misty winter afternoon or sunrise in Venice.  He has been strongly influenced by the Impressionist school of painting and by the English watercolours of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

His works have been accepted for the annual exhibitions of the Royal Institute of Watercolour Painters, The Pastel Society and The Royal Society of Marine Artists.  In 1980 he was awarded the trophy for the best watercolour in the S.E.and International Federation of Art Societies exhibition at the Royal Exchange, London.  In 1985 he was a finalist in the Laing competition.  He has held fourteen successful one man shows including the Arts Club, London in 1984 and St David's Hall, Cardiff in 1992.  His painting courses held in the Dordogne were featured on television in the Cliff Michelmore Holiday Program.  He now paints at the Old Vicarage, Glasbury–on–Wye.

David J Williams

David J Williams is a contemporary artist local to Hay–on–Wye.  Primarily a painter of land and seascapes, he draws his inspiration from the Border Country; the all inspiring region which crosses a very rural Herefordshire towards the montain paths of the Brecon Beacons.  His memory seascapes are frequently inspired by the Pembrokeshire coastline and ever changing Welsh skies.

David's work has been purchased by private vendors throughout the UK and Ireland.  Previous exhibitions include the Courtyard Gallery, Hereford City, Oriel Gallery, Hay–on–Wye and one man shows at the Rhydspence Inn, Whitney and Wyastone House, Monmouth.

His work is on display at established commercial premises locally, including the Felin Fach Griffin, Brecon, River Cafe, Glasbury and the Old Post Office, Llanigon. 

Joan Charleton

Born in London, Joan Charleton studied at Croydon School of Art.

Joan has been commissioned by publishing houses such as Macmillan's, Batsfords and Nicholas Kaye to illustrate children's books.  She has produced a series of strip cartoons for the London Evening News and, for a number of years, Joan worked as an illustrator for the Ministry of Defence.

She has also worked as an animator on film cartoons for Anson Dyer (London) and as an illustrator for the Pirelli Calendar.

Joan is available for commissions as an illustrator and as a portrait artist.  Her work has been said to show versatility, depth and sensitivity.

Please find below some examples of her work which will be exhibited in September. We will also have on display a wide range of prints after her work.

Price on application



L'importun
pastel
18 by 24in
Price on application




St Denis at St Adresse
mixed media on board
19 by 15in
Price on application

Deirdre Mackay

Deirdre Mackay's early interest in painting was fostered by her involvement with the family fine art business, Bourlets of London.  This was furthered by five years study at Hornsey College of Art and followed by a career as a painter encompassing a variety of freelance work and P/T. art college teaching.

Deirdre has exhibited widely including the Royal Academy (Watercolour and Drawing Prize), the Royal Watercolour Society, the R.I and the Museum of Modern Art, Wales, at which she was also a prize winner. 

Sharon Wyper

Sharon trained in art at Cardiff and completed a Masters in Fine Art at Central St.Martins College, London in 2005.  Since then she has exhibited at Reykjavik Arts Festival, the Frauen Museum, Bonn, The Corner House Gallery, Manchester; as well as in numerous group and solo exhibitions in London, Oxford, Tel Aviv and Vienna.

Sharon worked as an artist in residence in 2008 at 'Diamond Light Source', the UK's largest Synchroton.  The Synchroton generates a powerful light beam and acts like an X–ray machine that can see objects at nano levels and is at the cutting edge of scientific discovery.

"Light is a theme which runs through much of my work, whether it be the light from star constellations or the light emanating from a chandelier, to me it is a symbol of revelation in all its forms."

Sharon currently works at a studio in an artist's cooperative in Oxford and also teaches Art and Photography in a sixth form college.

Winter Sky

Azure Sky

Flight or Float

Sky Roundell2

Freida Asvesta

Artist's Statement

"As sensations of reality in contrast to mere representations of images, my paintings explore visual language through a fusion of elements, including colour, form and imagination.  Inspired by settings in Greece and here on the Wye; I work in a variety of mediums producing landscapes, still lifes and portraits with a heavy emphasis on colour helping to create a contemporary, expressionist portfolio."

Richard Corbett

Artist's Statement: "I am fascinated by the glorious effects of the sun as it travels across the land and sea.  My oil paintings, in beautiful old Holland paints on fine canvas, try to capture the play of light and the atmosphere it creates; evoking memories of time spent in landscapes or in more intimate spaces.

Inspired by a letter from Sister Wendy Beckett, I decided to commit myself to art full time and moved to Monmouth, South Wales in 2005, to set up a studio, drawn by the beautiful rolling hills and river valleys.  I have exhibited widely, with solo exhibitions in London, France and Birmingham in the last two years.

Locally my work has been shown at the following galleries and exhibitions:

• New Leaf Gallery, Monmouth
• Applestore Gallery, Hereford
• St George's Bristol
• The Washington Gallery, Penarth
• The Gallery at Bevere, Worcester
• Brecon Theatre
• Palace Art Fest, Hereford
• Ludlow Summer Exhibition

As well as creating fine art and selling through a number of prestigious galleries and art agents locally and nationally; I lead printmaking and painting workshops within Monmouthshire and nationwide.

Kay Leverton

Kay Leverton came to Wales in 1982 and has been living in Tredegar very close to the Brecon Beacons National Park for 16 years.  She is a self taught artist for whom the whole of life is a creative process to consciously take part in.

Kay has been painting and selling art since 1996 and is known for her pastels and acrylics.  In early 2010 needing to sit down for a change she got out a pack of scraperboards bought some time ago and her recent work is in this medium.

"It is a new love affair, a tool to explore my love of line and detail and the intricacy of the natural world.  To scratch away the ink and reveal the creamy chalk underneath, to make up a work out of thousands of tiny lines, this really excites me."

Please find below some examples of her scraperboard work.

Sue Maud MA

 Artist's Statement

"My paintings, etchings and prints deal with erosion and power, which are often found through experience with the sea and its many moods, not necessarily from land, but first hand at sea, sailing the ocean.  The work tries to create the feeling of 'being' and to follow the viewer to experience the elements, strength, terrifying beauty and awesome might of the sea, in conjunction with our own fragility.  I see the sea combined with people and objects, often out of context in the environment, as a full range of human emotions, each moment reflected in tension, acute sensation, and a release of energy and tranquility."

Michael Price N.D.D A.T.D

Artist's Statement

Always drawing and painting from a young age I attended Lancaster College of Art, followed five years later by a scholarship at Leeds University.  This to study under Harry Thubron; a well known and demanding artist.  Since then I have produced both abstract and figurative works.  In addition I have always been a keen sailor and I am regularly approached to paint yacht portraits so as to provide a memory for the owners.

I developed my portfolio further some 15 years ago when as a present to my wife I drew an aerial view of a large garden we had created.  This generated interest locally and has led to a number of similar commissions across the country.  The properties I have drawn from this unique perspective have ranged from stately homes to beautiful barn conversions. 

Other commissions have included:

• Kingstone House, Weston–under–Penyard, Ross-on-Wye
• Kingstone Court, Weston-under-Penyard, Ross-on-Wye
• Castlehill, Rockliffe, Dalbeattie, Kirkcudbrightshire
• Hillingdon House, Ross-on-Wye
• Minterne House, Minterne Magna, Dorset
• Hollington House, Glewstone, Ross-on-Wye
• 11 Grande Rue, Fosses, France
• Prittlewell Square, Southend-on-Sea
• Croose Farm, Woolhope, Ross-on-Wye

Janice Skeates

Janice studied graphic design at the West Sussex College of Art in Worthing and went on to work as a freelance graphic designer before setting up her own business.  Taking up watercolour painting roughly seven years ago she covers a wide range of subjects taking inspiration from the Wye Valley and Forest of Dean.

David Brindley

David has worked as a freelance illustrator since leaving college in 1979 having obtained a teacher training degree in Cheshire.  Always favouring a detailed, graphic style his early work was in pen and ink and echoed the engravers art with landscape and architectural subjects a main source of inspiration.  Over the years these black and white illustrations were presented with watercolour washes as publishers and other commercial commissions required the combined impact of David's detailed linear style with the addition of colour.

Of late the graphic side of his work has given way to now producing more and more fine art works.  Consequently this shift in emphasis has been the catalyst for the series of watercolours he has begun in the last 18 months. 

Andrea Bates

Andrea Bates (nee Bartok) was born in Budapest, Hungary, educated in Paris and Montreal, studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and now lives with her husband in North Oxfordshire, where she has a studio.

A member of the Oxford Art Society, Fosseway Artists and other groups, she has had over 30 one–woman shows to date. She has had work exhibited by the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, the Pastel Society and in the Mall Galleries, London.

Andrea is a regular participant in Oxford Artweeks (the annual Oxfordshire Visual Arts Festival) since in 1985; each year, she opens her two–storey converted Barn gallery to the public for a fortnight in May.  Her work can be found in private collections in this country, North America, Switzerland, France and Germany.  She is now listed in the "Who's Who in Art".

Her preferred media are pastels and oils.  Since 1994 she has brought out a range of limited edition prints depicting gardens, flowers and landscapes.  More recently she has brought out three new giclee prints of vivid autumn scenes.  One depicting three cockerels titled 'The Three Tenors', one of Spelsbury, one of Port Meadow, Oxford and one of Enstone in autumn.  These and her other work can be seen online at www.andreabates.co.uk

Jackie Garner

Jackie Garner trained at Medway College of Design.

Living in the Gloucestershire countryside inspired Jackie to combine her twin passions of natural history and art and pursue a wildlife art career.  Her most recent work highlights her fascination with the repeating shapes and colours linking wildlife with habitat.

In 2005 Jackie visited the Falklands, producing sketches and gathering reference material.  The resulting paintings were exhibited at Falkland House in Westminster.  Since then she has exhibited regularly, as a solo artist and with groups such as the Royal Institute of Painters in watercolours and the Society of Wildlfie Artists.

Recently Jackie has established a new studio near Stroud to concentrate on illustrations and gallery paintings.  She mostly works in watercolours and acrylics, occasionally in pastels, charcoal and oils.

Jackie's work is held in collections as far a field as South Africa, Trinidad and the Falklands and has been shown on BBC television.  She is a fellow of the RSA.

James Thorne

I am a freelance photographer based in Herefordshire, working with both digital techniques and traditional methods.  I enjoy using a film camera but always prefer to do post production work and printing digitally.

I take a great deal of pride in trying to capture and produce an image that could be hung on the wall as art or simply producing a photograph that I find beautiful and interesting, and which hopefully another viewer would be moved to purchase.

I think the photographer who has had the most influence on my work is Sebastiao Salgado.  The subjects he photographs are always incredible and the tones and contrasts he gets within his images are to my eye strking and beautiful.

Ricky

Sue Jolley

I am predominantly a self taught artist who draws inspiration from life and living.

Colours and contrasts excite me and my work reflects an eclectic mix of thought provoking paintings including abstract, contemporary and semi – representational.

Acrylic medium suits my vibrant appraoch to work but often I venture into mixed media for further inspiration.

I have undertaken various commissions and exhibited at venues in Oxford, Bristol and the Cotswolds.

 

John Horton

John specialises in large watercolour paintings depicting birds in landscape.  These are inspired from observation and field sketches and the picture is developed through a free drawing process in the studio, which is then refined to the finished work using all available reference for accuracy and detail.

He travels widely and always has a sketch book and camera at the ready to capture the events that will form the heart of a new picture.  His art covers a wide variety of subject matter from general landscape and wildlife through to animal portraiture.  Watercolour is his favourite medium for its softness and subtlety but he also works in acrylic, oil and pencil.

John takes commissions on all subjects and enjoys painting the landscape and characters around his home.  A lifelong passion for the natural history world underlies his work.  His paintings can be viewed at his own gallery/studio in Crowle.

Gael Sellwood

Gael Sellwood has worked as a botanical and natural history artist for about twenty years.  She uses material from her extensive conservation garden, which provides much of her inspiration.  With formal qualifications both in botanical illustration and business skills she combines painting with some teaching.  Apart from being a director in the family business, painting is now her main occupation.

Gael's work details found natural objects , affected, renounced and used by nature.  Usually working in watercolour her paintings take the viewer to the hedgerow, wayside or garden, recreating a season, a feeling, a scent or an experience for posterity.  Her favourite subjects are often dried, curled and care worn, rather than pristine and perfect.

Gael has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions, both at home and abroad.  She has exhibited at the Society of Botanical Artists and the RHS.  In 2011 she was awarded a gold medal by the RHS in Edinburgh.

 

Kathy Priddis

Anna Bloomfield

In 1969 I attended Great Yarmouth Art College.  It was an exciting time for me having always enjoyed drawing and I learnt to also paint in oils.  From Yarmouth I went on to complete a Diploma in Fine Art at Southampton and then a career as a picture restorer in a gallery.  As life and work took over I did little in the way of painting but my sketchbook has always remained close by.

Recently I discovered the joy of painting in watercolour and it has proved the perfect medium to develop my sketches.  I like to interpret the subject fairly quickly and enloy the immediacy and unpredictable qualities of watercolour which enables me to capture the moment.  My subjects are varied with landscapes being my main interest.

Julia Trickey

Julia loves depicting the beauty and detail of nature in watercolour and is particularly drawn towards specimens that are less than perfect, especially autumn leaves and seed heads.  She is currently working on a set of watercolours of fading flowers painted at a magnified size to celebrate the flaws and papery textures.

Julia originally trained in Visual Communication in the early 1980s but her career as a botanical artist started in 1998 when she joined an adult education class in South London.  She immediately felt at home within this genre and after a couple of years she was tutoring her original class.  She now runs classes and workshops in the Bath area and has work in collections worldwide.  She holds several awards for her botanical watercolours including five coveted RHS medals to date.

Sally Crosthwaite

During the last sixteen years Sally has concentrated full–time on her paintings which have also been used for book illustration and porcelain.  She has exhibited in galleries in London and internationally.

Sally was awarded a Diploma with distinction for a Botanical Illustration Course at the Chelsea Physic Garden and an RHS gold medal for her paintings of plants in the iris family.  Her work has been acquired by The RHS Lindley Library, The Royal Botanic Gardens Library, Kew, The Chelsea Physic Garden, The Hunt Institsute, as well as many interesting private collections.  Her work has been selected for The Highgrove Florilegium, a book recording the flowers in the gardens of the Prince of Wales at Highgrove.

Sally has also been commissioned to paint 16 watercolours of both fruit and tulips for reproduction on porcelain plates, a dinner service featuring agapanthus and four of her tulips were chosen for a Limoges dinner service.

Paul Padmore

Mary Edwards

Although born in the industrial city of Coventry, Mary has spent most of her life in the country and nearly all of that in the Wye Valley.

Her paintings give intriguing views of rural life which, though contemporary, are intensely nostalgic, rustic snapshots of a way of life that many people are tempted to think has long gone.

She says: 'They reflect the small moments of time from happy memories and imagination that have been part of my country life for more years than I care to remember."

Mary has exhibited widely:

• The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
• The RWA Open Exhibition, Bristol
• Affordable Art Fair, London
• The Llewellyn Alexander Gallery, London
• Kooywood Gallery, Cardiff
• Broadway Modern, Broadway
• Great Atlantic Galleries, Monmouth and Cornwall
• Apple Store Gallery, Herefordshire
• Greenstage Gallery, Herefordshire
• Denise Yapp Contemporary Art, Wye Valley