Brian Sinfield Art Gallery
'Flowers and Landscapes' opens Saturday 16th March
Elsa Taylor 16 March - 30 March 2024
We are very excited to introduce you to ‘Flowers and Landscapes’. Thirty new oil paintings by Elsa Taylor marking her eighth solo exhibition with the gallery.
Elsa is well known for being a colourist, and her use of intense colour is immediately apparent in both her still-life flower paintings and landscapes. Flowers feature strongly in this exhibition and are so visually pleasing, whether it be with a simple brush stroke, or with a free hand, or a palette knife, she is able to experiment with shapes, and then with that defining touch of colour, the subject is illuminated against its background. Elsa’s flower paintings, at times semi-abstract, are more celebrations of colour, design and texture, capturing the intrinsic character of the subject rather than a slavish depiction of the flowers themselves.
In Elsa’s landscape paintings we find layers of rich colour and texture which combine to depict the natural landscape and with the occasional village or hill house her impressionistic compositions evoke an emotional response. The Cotswolds have been a strong influence, as has the different landscapes of Cornwall, Scotland and Italy.
Though she prefers to paint from her studio in the Cotswolds from drawings and sketches, Elsa gathers inspiration from wide open spaces as well the solitary object or a single flower standing on its own, but in all cases she expresses her subject matter in colour and with a range of shapes that verge on the abstract.
'Flowers and Landscapes' opens this Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th March. The artist will be present from 11am - 3pm on the Saturday.
To view all available paintings by Elsa please click here
Featured Artist
Anthony Murphy
Anthony Murphy, born in Buenos Aires, is an Argentinian-born English painter with strong Irish connections. He has lived and worked near Carcassonne, France since 1992.
Anthony attended Westminster School in London and during his teenage years enjoyed success as an actor, receiving an Emmy award for best actor in the starring role of ‘Tom Brown’s Schooldays’. The artist then went on to become a lawyer working in both Britain and France before becoming a painter full time, exhibiting on a regular basis over the last 30 years.
Simplistic in structure, Anthony Murphy’s paintings allow the two-dimensional canvas to dominate the forms of the composition, reflecting an exploration of space. With a strong tonal palette, the artist chooses an array of subjects from townscapes to still life to people engaging in everyday activity.
“Trial and error are my great masters. A painting is nothing more or less than a series of brush strokes; and each stroke one may say, if you like it, leave it, if you don’t wipe it off”.
Anthony mainly paints in oil and pastel and is known predominantly for his French and Irish scenes. His colourful Gauginesque paintings have become highly desirable.
Painting shown here: L'Embrasse | oil on canvas | 38 x 55 cm
To view all available work by Anthony please click here
New In
Irene Jones
Irene Jones’ painting is inspired by her love of Elizabethan portraiture, fuelled by her passion for storytelling and practised through a lifetime of painting.
Irene was born in Beeston, Nottinghamshire and at the age of 13 she attended an art school attached to the Nottingham College of Arts and Crafts where she later studied graphic design. It was here she went on to work on sets in repertory theatre before pursuing her own art.
The influence of the theatre is evident in her work, in the lavish costumes and particularly in the way she creates a sense of having interrupted the drama mid action. Controlled gestures, sideways glances and symbolic details feed the narrative yet do not impose a single story. Her interest in history is clear, however these paintings are not slavishly historical. Rather, fixed in the 21st century they are concerned with the perennial issues of human life, love, loss, desire, friendship and betrayal. Informed by dreams, fears but most of all her imagination they are unique and timeless.
Since 1970 Irene has lived on the Devon-Cornwall border painting and participating in exhibitions including the Royal West of England Academy.
To view all available work by Irene please click here