Artists
SUSAN ASHWORTH
Susan was born on Portland Dorset in 1968. Her formal training resulted in a BA in Art and Design in 1991.She has been painting full time since 2004 after a career teaching art. An ongoing theme within her work is the complex relationship between culture and nature. This is represented on one level by the subject matter: natural elements within geometric spaces, and on a formal level by contrasting hard-edged areas of flat colour with free-flowing paint. The surfaces of her paintings are built up using a range of oil mediums to achieve different opacities and textures; from the rapid drying solidity of wax to washes of stained turpentine. Areas are scraped off or sanded and then repainted, snippets of previous layers visible within the finished work. Her still life work is influenced by the paintings of Richard Diebenkorn and his theme of the table top landscape. Her seascapes are drawn from photographs taken of the coastline around Sussex and Devon. More...
MARC FARRELL
Marc was born in 1963 in Peak Dale, Derbyshire. From an early age Marc was inspired by the dramatic, rugged landscape of his home, and bas a result he taught himself to paint. Having lived in Devon since 1975, then later moving to Dartmouth, his love of the open air has led him to focus on Dartmoor and the South Hams coast. He says his best days for painting are when he can just take off and cycle to the moors - his favourite subjects being found near the River Dart from source to the open sea at Dartmouth. Coastguard cottages and Old Mill Creek are other inspirational locations for Marc. Marc paints in watercolour and gouauche and he uses his medium to good effect to reflect the varying light of the seasons on his countryside in South Hams. Marcs love of nature leads him to a precise and detailed representation of his subjects but at a very reduced scale almost miniatures. More...
JASON HICKLIN
Jason was born in Wolverhampton, and graduated from St Martins in London with an honours degree in painting. This was followed by a postgraduate degree in printmaking from the Central School of Art, London. Jason says his work is based upon the british isles, it's weather, light and colour. All Jasons work is begun outdoors, carrying the minimum of equipment, he will walk and climb the area for days and sometimes nights, usually in extreme weather. Jasons etchings of the British Isles are panoramic, capturing the drama of the constantly changing weather. Like Canaletto or Turner, each scene is saturated in a distinct quality of light, we feel the season, the time of day, the reflections of the riversand the huge space of skies and land. Jason has an affinity with the land and many hours spent walking these hills, lands and coastlines allows him to create certain effects so vividly that his work stands out as exceptional amongst landscapers. More...
BEN CATT
Ben was born in London in 1970. He studied sculpture at Newcastle Polytechnic gaining a BA Hons. Now living and working in Penwith, Cornwall. The inspiration for my work is locally sourced from the landscape near to my home. I try to paint to evoke the feeling that the countryside and coastland can conjour up. Seeing the attraction in all the seasons and the multitude of weather conditions that can change within minutes is a costant thrill on the senses. Paintings are often places that I have visited time and time again with my family or on my own. Bringing with them feelings from joy and hapiness to amazement and isolation. It’s a unique place and I hope that comes across in my work. More...
RAY BALKWILL
Ray was born in the South West in 1948. Ray regularly contributes to 'The Artist' magazine and has also produced articles for 'International Artist' and 'Pastel Artist International'.He paints in watercolour, pastel and oils. Ray has exhibited widely and held many solo shows, including the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour and The Royal West of England Academy, Bristol. More...
JOSS KINGSNORTH
Joss Kingsnorth was trained at Bournmouth and has a degree in Fine Art and Painting. She followed this with a career in art education in the UK and then in Switzerland. All her paintings are inspired by the sea and its moods, colours and strange currents, evident in her latest paintings. Her paintings are quite large and executed on linen-covered board. They are built up in layers, glazes and the controlled movement of paint -splashes and runnels that reflect the qualities of the sea surface from the calm of a summer's day to a wild winter storm echoing its fluidity, colour and changing moods. More...
JONATHAN WOOLFENDEN
Working with found pieces of scrap metal, Jonathan produces magical sculptures reminiscent of Emmett or Heath Robinson cartoons. Wonderful exaggerated curves and shapes convey the essence, rather than the image, of the boats he sculpts. More...
RACHEL DUCKER
Rachel originally trained as a jeweller, and her fascination and love for working with metal led her to experiment with wire as a medium for sculpting the human form. Accomplished in life drawing, her sculpting wire figures concentrate on the expressive and emotional dynamics of human nature. She says, 'I have to make things. I have an incredibly visual active mind. Well practiced in life drawing, with an appreciation of the human body and the emotional dynamics of human nature, combined with being originally trained as a jeweller, lead me to experiment with wire as a medium for sculpting the human form, capturing something ephemeral, either emotive or active. My pieces are untitled due to my belief that everyone sees something different in my sculptures.' Her figures, in the unlikely medium of twined wire, are full of movement, seeming on the verge of flying, with their streaming hair and spread limbs. Even those shown sitting, in meditative poses with relaxed hands, retain a latent energy - and of course that electric wiry hair. More...
KAREN MILLER
Karen creates her intriguing creatures and hearts at her studio in Devon. Every piece of work is created using only the finest quality driftwood, layered and drilled into place on a sturdy hessian covered panel - the driftwood is collected from thebeaches in and around the South Hams by herself and an army of friends and family. Four years and one million pieces of driftwood later, Karen has her driftwood sculptures all over the world and is working fulltime in her studio. 'Often people ask me to express what I feel when creating a piece, and my answer is simply, I just love wood! For me, the pieces just tell me what to make' Her ideas can come from an array of influences, but mainly friends and family. Each piece is named and can be wall hung or situated on the floor. More...
DAVID NORMAN
David lives in the South West and although his first career was that of designer and architectural illustrator in London, he has since returned to the West Country where he was born and now paints full time. His work reflects his interest in structure and form and is a personal interpretation of his surroundings. He says he is 'unashamedly influenced by his obsession with symmetry and balance' and this is evident in his line drawing and excellent draftmanship. The use of paint and water truly reflects his understanding of light and adds atmosphere and movement to his work. David was formally trained at both Dartington and Manchester and his one-man exhibition in Provence has become an annual event! More...
DIONNE SIEVEWRIGHT
Dionne was born in 1973 in Perth. She studied Illustration & Printmaking at Duncan of Jordanstone, Dundee and graduated in 1997. She has self-determination and a love of colour and texture and has worked in a wide range of disciplines, including surface pattern design for textiles, architectural rendering and illustration. Using watercolour sketches from field trips as her reference, Dionne returns to her studio and creates the mixed media painting on either canvas or paper. She tries to develop exciting textures of vibrant layers of colours using acrylic paint and oil pastels. Dionne captures the changes of light throughout the seasons, her technique simplifies and accentuates the shapes and patterns of the land and rural buildings within it. More...
MARTIN PROCTER
Martin's passion for architecture is reflected in his paintings. His love of structure, form and design is obvious. He uses watercolour and gesso to create the sweeping dramatic skies so prevalent in his work. Dartmoor granite, remote hills, buildings in the landscape, cliffs and harbours all provide the source material - skillfully translated from sketches and ideas developed on location. His paintings are mixed media on both paper and canvas - contrasting the precision and order of man-made architecture against a background of the wild random land and seascape of the West Country. Martin was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire and now lives with his family to the South West of England. More...
WENDY MCBRIDE
Wendy has always lived in the West Country which she believes has made her a romantic at heart. Land and seashore are her protagonists. The high and wild places where weather seems to mimic mood, where shapes and colours vibrate one with another. She says that she uses pastels for their immediacy, also their ability to forgive her impatience in transposing her feelings and thoughts to paper. Her inspiration is Turner, Monet and Morisot, Degas and Rothko, Eardley and Hodgkin. Her favourite places for committing to paper include Dartmoor, the river Dart and Tresco, in the Scilly Isles. Her distinctive images have been described as clean, fresh and atmospheric, but they are much more than this; each has an almost mesmeric quality that is nothing if not enchanting. More...
TINA MORGAN
Tina studied art and design in Cornwall gaining an LSIAD in industrial design. Inspired by the great Royal Academicians Fred Cuming and Ken Howard, Tina established her reputation as an oil painter capturing the light and her personal experiences of family beach life. Her works, mainly in oil evoke memories of warm summer days and hazy sunshine. Her softness of palette and her great skill in observing and depicting people - makes her work timeless. Tina says, 'I use oil paint because the colour and textures are so rich. I develop the background and paint onto that with a knife for texture, then I use long springy brushes for the detail. More...
SUSAN GRAY
Susan was formally trained in Fine Art at the Buckinghamshire Chiltern University College. She has a home in Dartmouth, where she has spends a great deal of time sketching and painting. Susan has experimented with various subjects and media but her passion is capturing large skies and seas that are full of energy and unease. Her main medium is acrylic paint on canvas but she also enjoys the expressive qualities of oil paint. She works from sketches and studies made on location but loves the immediacy of painting directly onto the canvas in situ, which is why she spends so much time on and around the coastline of Dartmouth and around the coast around Prawle Point. Sue says, 'The weather conditions are constantly changing and I thrive on the challenge of having to work quickly.' More...
CYRIL CROUCHER
Cyril's own words:
'A very long time ago, not long after the end of the last world war, in a time of teddy boys and winklepickers, a little boy was born in Shoeburyness where Old Father Thames meets the great North Sea. The boy's grandmother worked a Thames barge, sailing up and down the river with their cargo of coal - a proper job. When the grandmother grew too old to sail the barge, she would sit with the boy and tell him stories, stories in which reality and fantasy merged. He loved these stories and there he began to draw and paint pictures of the things of which his grandmother told. That was many years ago, and so it is that the man now spends days and nights painting his pictures, often finding himself drifting back to his childhood to the time of grandmother's storytelling. He now has a proper job indeed.! More...
JUDY HEMPSTEAD
Judy was formally trained at Goldsmith's in London. After a life as Senior Lecturer in Art & Design at Exeter College, she left to become a full-time artist. Having spent her formative years living a stone's throw from the sea in Devon, it is not surprising that she draws inspirations from the changing moods of the sea and estuaries. Judy works mainly in mixed media assemblages, which swing between the semi-figurative and pure abstraction. She is fascinated by sea mists which creep in and envelop the cliffs. She is calmed by the tranquillity of the sea and is drawn to the scale of cliff faces - but suffers the conflict of an uncontrollable fear of heights. All of which produce emotions which are reflected in her work. Judy includes inks, papers, fabrics texture paste as well as paint, making the painting obscure sometimes but feels that the essence of the subject remains. More...
TONY AMOS
Anthony was born in Bristol in 1950. From an early age, he worked with horses and as a nurseryman. This was followed by a career at sea working on trawlers, tugs and deep sea cargo ships. By 1980, he had begun to paint seriously spending more and more time experimenting with all subject matter, bits of card, scraps of material - all to bring different textures to the work. At first, his preferred subject material was based on the sea - the working shipyards, scrapyard ships and working boats that had seen a lot of life on the sea. He is inspired with all things to do with the weather and colours of the atmosphere. His love of outdoor life has given him a unique feel for interpreting the many moods of his enviornment by the sea. His studio does not contain a single paintbrush - he works with rags and fingers. More...
JOHN BOYCE
Born in 1938, John developed an interest in painting as a young boy. On leaving school, he began an apprenticeship in Devon port dockyard, then went on to engineering career. This background now has a strong influence on his painting, and most of the artists who have influenced John have been seascape painters. He paints in an impressionistic style in oils, with bold, free brushstrokes - looking for a composition that has reflected light and shadow. He says 'It is usually this which grabs my attention in the first place and is a constant inspiration'. More...
DAVID WHEELER
David was born in London, Notting Hill and studied design. David is a 'modern' painter using oils on both canvas and paper and loves to experiement with texture and colour.He wants to create the depth of colour that has inspired him from his trips to Tuscany and France. He says he strives to capture the spirit and mood of locations in a modern contemporary colourist style rather than a specific scene. Influenced by the impressionist and colourist, he is developing his style giving each painting originality without becoming abstract. Having come to paint later in life, David says he believes he will never tire of it. More...
STEWART EDMONDSON
Stewart Edmondson was trained as a Landscape Architect which seemed a good combination of his interests in biology, geography and art and design. But his love of the environment took him to work for many years with children in environmental education. With the birth of his son Luis in 2002 the irrepressible urge to paint took over. His inspiration comes from the raw, alive landscape within a few miles from his home. He paints on location in all weather, with a fishing shelter at hand to keep the rain off and chooses whatever is most alive for him at that moment in time - fields of Buttercups at the peak of their flowering, threatening storm-clouds over the tors or the rivers. His style is energetic, which makes it difficult to paint on a small scale, scraping and splattering paint passionately in amongst more considered brushwork. More...
NICHOLAS STJOHN ROSSE
Nicholas's pictures are concerned with the human figure and how it relates to its immediate surroundings. Portrait painting has featured throughout his career and he has an abiding interest in the human face and the way it appears, or doesn't, in figure compositions. All the visual and tactile properties of sand, rock, water and light envelop his subjects both pictorially and in reality. He says he trieS to convey their physical response and their moods. He comes from a traditional background of realism and draughtsmanship but he also believe in the expressive use of oil paint. A series of limited edition prints are available by this artist, please ask for details. More...
ELISABETH HADLEY
Elisabeth studied at Bristol and the Sir Henry Doulton School of Sculpture and has swiftly found her metier in the female form in all its moods and sinuous beauty. Elisabeth brings these qualities to sculptures with classical, mythological and african themes producing graceful, sensual and very beautiful pieces. One of which is the new and already well known life-size bronze mermaid over looking the entrance to Dartmouth Harbour. . She has also been inspired by the books of Leni Riefenstahl who photographed the 'Vanishing tribes of Africa' More...
JENNY WYNNE-JONES
Jenny Wynne-Jones is a sculptress based in the South Hams making bronze and bronze resin pieces for both indoor and garden display. Her formal training was undertaken at Portsmouth College of Art and London University, Following this, Jenny entered into family life and a career in teaching. Subsequently, she has established herself as a sculptor with a fine eye for detail and form. Jenny has exhibited at The Royal Society of British Artists and at The Royal West of England. More...
ROSEMARY COOK
Born in Portsmouth in 1952, Rosemary Cook worked for many years as a professional conservator and restorer of the decorative arts. Her sculpture of animals represents a response to individual character. The essence of her work is to capture the immediate spark of liveliness in her subject, portraying their true spirit in a style that is impressionistic and unsentimental. On the other hand, her human subjects are more metaphysical in inspiration, expressing a mood, memory, experience or atmosphere that can strike a strong chord. She has pieces in private collections as far afield as New Zealand, the West Indies and the United States. Animals, especially dogs, form a major part of her work, and in 1997 Battersea Dogs Home commissioned a bronze Parson Jack Russell Terrier to stand in their new wing as 'Everydog', representing the thousands rescued and cared for by the renowned charitable institution. Another work, 'Back to the Wild', was selected for presentation to the retiring director of Child Line. More...
JUDE FREEMAN
Jude Freeman was born 1954 in Birkenhead. Her formal training resulted in a Degree in Sociology and Archaeology. Jude moved to Devon in 1986 with her two daughters. Since then, she has established a successful career as a mosaic artist. She first became aware of the beauty of mosaic while studying archaeology at university. Whilst she was working on a thesis on Greek frescoes she came across books on ancient mosaics and was captivated. The small tiles are made from Venetian glass, Japanese pottery and exquisite ceramics that she collects on her travels. Always detailed, the work has great depth and quality and takes on the feeling of a museum exhibit, much like those early mosaics. More...
AMANDA HOSKIN
Amanda Hoskin was born and grew up in Cornwall. After graduating from Falmouth School of Art & Design she became a freelance wildlife illustrator, working and living in London. Amanda combines technical mastery with 'fast and loose' expressive use of paint to capture the light and atmosphere of the landscape that she knows and loves so well. She returned to Cornwall in the early 1990s to become a sailing instructor, teaching mainly at Mylor, on the beautiful Fal estuary, through the summer months and travelling in winter. During this time she continued to paint, changing the medium from watercolour to oils. Her style became much freer and she began to concentrate on the changing skies and landscapes around her. More...