Paintings
Nick Andrew
Nick Andrew is a landscape painter, living and working in South Wiltshire. He describes his work as follows: “I am inspired by my immediate landscape and, in particular, a three-mile stretch of the River Wylye close to where I live, along with adjacent water meadows and nearby woodland. I walk here often, observing changes from day to day and season to season.
In my paintings, I explore the abstract qualities in the landscape: fleeting patterns in the river flow, multi-layering and reflectivity. Also the textures, contrasts and depths in the forest, and the movement, rhythms and colours of field grass and plant life. I aim to convey a sense of quietness and ‘solitary involvement’ with this landscape.”
Nick Andrew studied Art and Graphic Design in Oxford, London and Cheltenham. He has been working as a painter since the early 1980s and has exhibited widely, throughout the UK, mainland Europe and the USA.
He has work in many public and private collections, including: Royal London Hospital; Cable and Wireless; Salisbury Hospital; Hampshire County Council; P&O; Weetabix; Scottish Equitable; Houses of Parliament; Wilts Council; St Bartholomews Hospital; Shell UK.
In 2017 Nick was presented with the Individual Artist Award in the Wiltshire Life Awards.
Nick was the founder of the Wylye Valley Art Trail in 2001, which he co-ordinated until 2013. It has become the largest visual arts festival in Wiltshire.
Louise Bougourd
I create art inspired by my natural surroundings, combining naturalism with imagination to create expressive, vibrant and beautiful art that is engaging and a joy to look at.
My painting process follows the same journey – I sketch on location creating bold interpretations of my surroundings; I make many sketches to use in my studio; working on larger pieces either on canvas or wood panels. I will occasionally rip the sketches up to make collages removing me from the restraint of a particular scene, helping me to eliminate any suggestion of representation. It is my intention to make art that makes you look at your surroundings in a new way!
I use artist quality pigments/materials to ensure I have the richest texture and consistency whilst creating, I paint with watercolour, oil and mixed media – the subject dictates my materials, depending on the effects I intend. I do not seek an actual representation, I focus on the connection with a place and feeling to steer my creativity.
Maggie Cochran
Maggie is fascinated by the tracks and marks left behind as the sea goes out, and how the light reflects off the wet sand. She also enjoys watching the constantly changing sky and sea and bringing a sense of the weather into her paintings. Porthmeor Beach, St Ives, is an ongoing source of inspiration to her.
Maggie has a Fine Art degree from the University of Chichester and won the Cornwall Life Landscape Painter of the Year in 2016 with her plein air paintings of Sennen Cove and Marazion. She has recently completed the one-year Porthmeor Programme at the St Ives School of Painting.
While she has always painted Maggie did not take it up professionally until her children left home.
Being passionate about the sea, walking by it and painting it at every opportunity, Maggie wanted to give something back and to help conserve the sea and our local coasts for future generations. To this end she has partnered up with a small UK based marine conservation charity Sea-Changers and is raising funds for them through her art.
Lindsey Cole
Lindsey was born in Poole in Dorset. After leaving Poole Pottery as a ceramic artist in 1996, she is now a self taught Hampshire based artist living in Ringwood practising in a wide range of subjects and matter.
She became a professional artist in 2001. While studying at Bournemouth Arts Institute for 2 years, she gained a Diploma in Fine Art. She now enjoys exploration and experimenting with various mediums creating texture enhancing colour, form and tone, drawing her inspiration from the natural surrounding areas of the New Forest and the Dorset and Hampshire Coastline.
Lindsey exhibits her work nationally and runs successful workshops from her garden studio in Ringwood.
She has had TV exposure appearing on Sky Landscape Artist of the Year 2017 as the ‘Wildcard’ winner and won various awards for her landscapes (Artist of the Year 2016 Winner, New Forest Arts) and animal studies (Artist of the Year 2009 Highly Commended - Hare Study) (Artist of The Year Wildlife Winner 2011 - Hare portrait).
Lindsey is increasingly in demand for demonstrations and group workshops for many Art Clubs and Societies.
Jane Corner
"All my paintings are done on location in all weathers, around the coastline of Hampshire & Dorset. The ever changing light adds a spontaneity and integrity which is impossible to capture in the confines of a studio.
I studied at Brighton Art College, graduating in 1986 with a BA[Hons]degree in Expressive Arts". My Inspiration comes from my surroundings, living in the New Forest and being a 10 minute drive from the Sea! I am obsessed with trying to evoke movement and passion in my paintings, I like to experiment with different materials in order to create something that is tactile and fluid. "
Maureen Davies
After completing her foundation Course at St. Alban's College of Art Maureen attended The Central School of Art in London where she obtained a BA in Textile design and won an RSA bursary.
She has won several prestigious awards including The Princess Michael of Kent Award for the SWA, The Frank Herring Award for the Pastel Society and Artist of the Year 2007 for the Society for All Artists.
Maureen's work is concerned principally with sunlight and the way it transforms the landscape into colours and patterns. Some works are literal in their interpretation while others are more abstract.
Her background in textiles has had an important influence on her painting. Pattern, colour and texture are all fundamental elements of her work. She enjoys experimenting with different media, often combining them in one piece, however pastels remain a firm favourite.
Sam Gabriel
I am a Hampshire based artist having lived in or around Lymington most of my life. Although not formerly trained beyond art foundation course many moons ago, my art has been a constant in my life and my style has taken on many different guises over the years. Aside from my present choice of mixed media, I have experience in illustration, calligraphy, pen and ink drawing, watercolours and working with wood and clay. I also hold a diploma in Interior Design.
My latest collection is inspired by the abundance of wonderful wildlife that we are surrounded by in this beautiful part of the world and that I am lucky enough to be able to observe on my daily seawall walks.
My paintings are of mixed media, layers of plaster applied to boards, designs sketched directly onto the plaster and then etched to give greater depth before finally painting. I love experimenting with texture and colour and have tried to create backgrounds to my pictures that reflect the extraordinary patinas of the natural world whilst at the same time providing contrast to the main image.
Heather Jolliffe
Heather is an experienced art teacher and practising painter, who runs regular art classes and workshops from venues in and around Lymington in Hampshire, as well as to other organisations, such as Hampshire Libraries, and to art groups up and down the country.
Her formal art training was at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art, before completing a degree in Fine Art at the prestigious Royal Academy Schools of Art. Heather also has a qualification in teaching adult learners.
Deeply inspired by the coast and countryside of her native Hampshire, Heather has shown work in many exhibitions, including the Royal Academy of Art, the Mall Galleries and St Barbes' Museum.
Dawn Lawrence
An artist who was inspired by the William Wyllie paintings and the busy Solent environment that surrounded her, Dawn Lawrence developed a passion for marine subjects and the dramatic play of light, water and sky.
Her career started in earnest in 1997, when, being impressed by her work, she was invited by an Admiral of the Royal Navy to embark in R.F.A. ARGUS in order to witness operations of their embarked aircraft and capture the daily lives of the ship’s company. Because Dawn herself is a qualified pilot, she was able to fly with the Lynx helicopter crew to create a more unusual perspective in her paintings. She has not looked back, undertaking commissions for the Royal Navy and foreign navies around the world, most recently completing a painting of HMS AMBUSH for the wardroom of the submarine.
More recently, Dawn has concentrated on classic yachts and the America’s Cup. She attended the different acts of the 32nd America’s Cup to capture on canvas this historic event which, for the first time, travelled to different locations and included the exciting spectacle of fleet racing. Attracted to the state of the art design of the yachts, she revelled in capturing their speed and power, exploring new and innovative media in her work to convey the cutting edge materials that make up America’s Cup class yachts of today.
Dawn studied at Winchester School of Art & Design and has exhibited in Sloane Street, The Wyllie Gallery, Knightsbridge and Chelsea, The Naval and Military Club in St James’ and The Marine Gallery, Cowes, the Art Museum of Chianciano and the Gagliardi Gallery in London, as well as hosting her own successful exhibition. Her paintings are collected worldwide. In April 2001, she won a prestigious award from the Laing Group at the Mall Galleries, London for a twilight maritime scene.
Valerie Nerva
Valerie is a fine artist living and painting from her home studio, on the borders of the New Forest and Wiltshire/Dorset countryside. In 2006 Valerie embarked on her artistic journey, finding the best teachers she could along the way. A two-year training with artist Trevor Waugh, followed by a Diploma from the Norfolk Painting School, gave Valerie her love of oil painting techniques. Valerie has been exhibiting her work since 2013 in regional exhibitions, national art fairs, online, and each year in Hampshire Open Studios.
“I am always seeking to express the emotional connection I feel when out in the natural world; the peace; the spirit and sense of place, and of what lies beyond the purely physical. I look for those magical moments on my walks: - the weird, wonderful, majestic tree shapes, rich mosses adorning their sides; the way the light shines through the trees casting deep shadows; the geometry of field boundaries and the big skies; peaceful reflections in water and the symbols that appear in the play between light and shade.
Working from black and white photo reference and sketches, I choose the colours to suggest a particular mood or feeling, which may be very different from the natural colour. Working with the different colour palettes also affects my mood and is part of the joy of painting. I use mainly rich, vibrant oil paint, which allows the paintings to slowly evolve and come into being making each painting unique and special.
How we experience a painting is very personal – I hope that my artworks create a moment of connection for you, the viewer; a reminder that in all the busyness of our lives there is time to stop and just be, a moment perhaps of peace; of being transported to a special place; and yes, perhaps a little magic.”
Alison Orchard
Alison Orchard is an artist inspired by nature and passionate about painting. She first attended St. Ives School of Art as a teenager in 1986 and at the age of 18 won the Scott, Brownrigg & Turner Award for Art. She studied at Epsom School of Art & Design (Foundation Diploma) and Harrow College, University of Westminster (B.A. hons). Alison enjoyed success as a commercial illustrator and designer, before launching her fine art career with a debut solo exhibition 'Arvor' at GalleryOne in 2009. In 2012, she was selected for inclusion in 35th edition of Who's Who in Art. Alison's work now has a growing following and is held in private collections. Her paintings have been shown at various prominent art fairs, with exhibitions in London & South East England, Canada, Guernsey & Portugal, including at The Royal College of Art & The Society of Women Artists, London.
Alison paints direct from the landscape, both at home and on the Cornish Coast, using these initial experiences to inspire the large gestural paintings created in her Hampshire studio. Her curiosity with layered surfaces and marks have led her to explore various media, painting with oil or acrylics and more recently encaustic wax, often combined with metal filings, marble dust and coloured charcoal. Her paintings have a vitality that translates directly from the energy of her brushstrokes. There is a play of light built from layers of atmospheric glazed colour. The end result is her reaction to the landscape, expressing humility and wonder at the overwhelming forces of nature.
“I have been studying changing landscapes, the sketched lines on the sand, cloud movements, the tidal shift; trying to tell that story and bring that energy into my paintings.” Alison Orchard
Hannya Robinson
Known for her vibrant and colourful response to the natural world, Hannya’s subjects range from brilliantly lit skies and vivid depictions of natural light to panoramic 'naturescapes'. The wild and enticing energy in Hannya’s works have in common her fascination with the untameable characteristics of nature, and the relationship between her photography that documents her life of travels.
When Hannya isn’t painting in her studio here in the New Forest, she’s painting onboard her floating studio in sunnier clime. Having lived in and travelled to many corners of the world, Hannya’s paintings signify and represent her adventures at sea. An experienced sailor and nature enthusiast, Hannya paints with a mixed media in a range of sizes.
Tony Slade
New Forest based artist Tony Slade developed many of his artistic skills during a 37 year career as a Traditional Signwriter. Over the years he has worked on thousands of top-quality signwriting and pictorial sign projects.
Tony began signwriting in the 1980s learning many of his skills from his father. His career as a signwriter has provided the perfect platform on which to build a career in art.
“My art gives me the freedom to paint what inspires me. After many years signwriting to a corporate brief it is refreshing to paint from the heart, with passion and to produce striking and atmospheric art. I want people to feel something when they see my work, to almost hear and smell the sea… feel the wind or the warmth of the sun… hopefully I have achieved that!”
Virginia Whiting
Primarily a painter of contemporary landscapes and seascapes in oils, Viriginia was born and brought up in rural Northamptonshire with the freedom to roam and develop the love of the countryside which has always inspired her work.
Based in Cranborne Chase for over thirty years, she now has a strong engagement with the rolling chalk downlands and woodlands close to her home as well as the nearby New Forest. Another deeply important influence is the coastal areas of North Cornwall, which she visits on a regular basis.
Drawing on her strong visual and emotional memories of these areas, as well as notes and sketches made in situ and working mainly alla prima with a painting knife, she seeks to capture the light, shade, colour and atmosphere of the changing seasons and weather patterns.
Other strands to her work include experimentation with printing techniques such as mono printing and lino cuts as well as still life and abstract work acrylics.
She exhibits widely in her local area and her work is held in private collections both in the UK and overseas.
