Come and visit our Portobello artists at The Affordable Art Fair in Battersea

Clara Wilkinson is an artist who grew up in south London and is now based in Brighton.  She studied at Central St. Martins and the London Guildhall.

Working in oil paint, watercolour and ink, Clara’s work is inspired by the landscapes and wildlife of Exmoor, southern Spain and the South Downs - where she lives with her sons. 

Her paintings are concerned with capturing what is ‘below the surface’.  She likes building her paintings in stages, working quickly and allowing each layer to dry, sometimes wiping away, before starting another fine layer.  

Clara takes painting commissions, sells fine art prints of her work and opens her studio twice a year as part of Brighton’s Artists Open House festival.  She is also one half of Living Wall Murals - creating finely painted wall art for commercial and domestic spaces.

Vanessa is bringing her cyanotype yerba mate prints of horses to Notting hill. The prints are hand made by a traditional print maker in durham who has collaborated to make original editions toned in yerba mate the popular tea from south America which evokes a very special feel to the images of her horses. She has photographed here and in Argentina and hopes this will be one of many exhibitions she will be sharing with us.

Barry, a Notting Hill resident, has photographs from his travels to the likes of Tibet, Ethiopia, India, Pakistan, Morocco taken 30 years ago before the world of digital and mass tourism. Some of these will be on view. He has recently returned to photography after a long absence and this forthcoming exhibition will focus on the last two years of trips to the Scottish Isles, Cornwall, the Lake District. This exhibition will also feature a set of images taken in and around Portobello Road.

Small group show featuring Laurence Causse-Parsley, Alexandra Sivov, Alan Oliver and Brian Rinker

The Joy of Colour

A solo show by London landscape artist Ian Mowforth.
PV Friday 11 March

Ian Mowforth is a painter who is fascinated by light and colour. In particular how colour is affected by light folding over it. He is currently looking at mornings where the light is soft and forgiving and at afternoons where the light is raking and harsh. He is looking at how light can create complimentary lines around objects within a landscape setting.

In the painting of these carefully composed and constructed images , Mowforth is looking to create an almost photographic tonality with his use of colour and mark making. He’s intrigued by how light pours through barriers like fences onto pathways, creating delicate pools of colour. The use of man made and natural structures within images is also carefully considered. He has been exploring the landscape motif in Yorkshire and in London and regularly returns to the same areas year after year. Differing weather patterns, times of day and seasons are also of huge significance.

The scale of the image is carefully planned as is the scale of the mark making within the composition. The brush strokes are increasingly becoming a visual language of their own as Mowforth’s paintings mature. Occasionally in his practice the artist leaves areas of the densely coloured images ‘incomplete’ so that the viewer is required to become the final piece of the composition. Pictorial devices such as pathways are frequently used so that the viewer is ‘invited’ to walk through the painting itself.
Habitually in his practice Mowforth spends many hours photographing images of interest which may or may not become paintings. The images are often digitally manipulated before being printed out to be used as inspiration.

Since 2019 the artist has become drawn more and more to reflections and how they can offer a different viewpoint in a painting. Sometimes reinforcing an image and often echoing a motif. He has also begun a series of diptychs in the last few months where he has started to place non connected images together. Initially this was begun to offer the audience a heightened sense of being in the landscape environment. More recently some of the images being painted are from very different locations making a more contrasting and jarring effect. The ability to exchange these initial paintings with each other will offer further suggestions for future work.

We’ve invited twenty of our fellow artists to join us in cleaning our our studios for spring and bring their favourite finds to The Bakery for a huge studio sale.  We have a fantastic roster of acclaimed artists from in and around London, who have previously exhibited at countless private galleries as well as the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, ING Discerning Eye, RA Summer Exhibition, and Society of Women Artists.  Work includes drawing, painting, and mixed media, and all prices will be discounted by at least 30%.  A perfect opportunity to grab a rare bargain and discover some new artists at the same time. 

Guest artists include:

Amanda Coleman
James Decent
Louise Diggle
Penny German
John Govett
Isabel Greenslade
Michelle Hawes
Katie James
Joanne Last
Lucy Marks
Bella Martineau
Luke Martineau
Bessie Millar
Eve Petit
Sheila Roe
Penny Sandeman

And more!

A new group show featuring our gallery artists and highlighting the work of the three new members who have joined us this month - Sally Minns, Henrietta Stuart, and Emma Chambers.