Meet the Artist – Becky Samuelson

Who are you and what do you do?

I am Becky Samuelson and I am mainly a painter of seascapes and landscapes but also enjoy architecture and portraiture. I am a tutor in adult education which includes painting holidays and workshops and a contributor to the Leisure painter magazine.

Why do you do what you do?

Simply because I love it; anything art related is of interest – it’s stimulating, challenging and always varied. No day is the same, no picture the same and I enjoy having my fingers in various ‘art mud pies’.

How do you work?

My studio is in St Helens. I usually concentrate on one painting at a time, but it may be part of a collection of work. I plan a lot and preparation is key to my work. Sketchbooks, photos, found objects are all valuable starting points and most outings involve sourcing subject matter.

What’s your background?

I trained as an Occupational Therapist until my children were born and then what started as a hobby became a full time occupation and I have been painting now for 25 years.  I am largely self-taught and am a member of the Society of Women Artists and The Hilliard Society of Miniaturists.

What art do you most identify with?

I was inspired by the Impressionists as a schoolgirl; but it was Rowland Hilder’s work that really excited me to paint.

What work do you most enjoying doing?

My favourite are seascapes. I like open and expressive work especially involving colour and more recently texture has been playing an important role. Working on sailcloth has been a big feature of my work for 18 months and I am loving exploring and developing this!

Describe a real-life situation that inspired you?

It’s all around me and can as easily come out of the blue as opposed to when I actively plan a trip out! Wherever I go, and particularly on holiday, sketchbooks are part of my travels.

Why art?

It’s always been about art with me. Really it’s pure enjoyment and a feeling of anticipation and excitement. It can say so much more than I can put into words; describing feelings, mood, recording a moment in time.

What memorable responses have you had to your work?

A really lovely comment said only recently was that they were ‘blown away’ by the painting, a wonderful thing to hear and totally unexpected.

Favourite or most inspirational place?

Off the Island? Tuscany!!

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

Paint a sky a day

Professionally, what’s your goal?

I really just want to keep moving forwards, challenging myself as new ideas develop, try new open exhibitions and linking up with other artists

What have you got coming up in the next few months?

An Exhibition at Seaview Arts July 2-26, Open Studios and a summer exhibition at Bembridge Sailing Club

What wouldn’t you do without?

My studio!

You can see more of Becky’s work on her website

http://www.beckysamuelsonfinearts.co.uk/

Meet the Artist – Kerrie Jane Stritton

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Kerrie Jane Stritton. After spending time teaching and working in London, Brighton and Maidstone as tutor and freelance illustrator I have moved back to the Isle of Wight to focus and specialise in painting.

How do you work?

My work is predominantly oils on stretched canvas. I try to reflect the natural essence and power of nature in my work.

What’s your background?

Born on the Isle of Wight I left at 18 to study at Central St. Martins then attended the Royal College of Art where I gained my Masters.

What work do you most enjoying doing?

I love to paint dramatic land and seascapes.

Describe a real-life situation that inspired you?

Daily dog-walks connect me with the natural world around me. It’s this that inspires me most of all.

Why art?

I’d like to be a physicist but I am let down by a considerable lack of mental numerical ability.

What is your dream project?

The creation of an artistic retreat. It’s in the works!

Favourite or most inspirational place?

The South coast of the Isle of Wight.

Professionally, what’s your goal?

After a lot of work, patience, and blood and sweat in 2014 I will be opening an artistic retreat in the Poitou Charentes region of France. The goal is to provide a relaxed holiday atmosphere with some lightly structured learning and course based activities.

What have you got coming up in the next few months?

As a member of Ventnor’s newly created ‘Undecided Art Collective’ there are all sort of exciting things planned for the coming months. Watch this space!

What wouldn’t you do without?

My dog Sadie.

To see more of Kerrie’s work go visit her website

http://kerriestritton.com/aboutkerriestritton.html

Meet the Artist – Laurence Robert Kemp

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Laurence Robert Kemp, and I continue to colour from my palette.

Why do you do what you do?

It is a form of expressing my inner self and screaming at the world.

How do you work?

Behind closed doors away from the eyes of the world.

What’s your background?

I worked in the film industry, care work and studied Art and Design and Drama.

What art do you most identify with?

Van Gogh and Beryl Cook.

What work do you most enjoying doing?            

Food design- with a sense of drama!

What’s your favourite art work?

My design of ‘Pie and Custard’.

Describe a real-life situation that inspired you?

Translating my art into greetings cards.

Why art?

It is because it is… Who I am! What I am!

What memorable responses have you had to your work?

It was positive feedback from an exhibition at Dimbola Lodge.

What music inspires you to work?

Shirley Bassey and Santana.  In particular Europa (Earths Cry Heavens Smile).

What is your dream project?

To be a success in my own lunchtime!

Favourite or most inspirational place?

My own imagination. Wow!

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

To carry on, because what else would I do with my life?

Professionally, what’s your goal?

But, how far is the goal..?

What have you got coming up in the next few months?

The Open Studios and attending the Jubilee celebrations with an exciting new project in mind- watch this space!

What wouldn’t you do without?

Wine, bread and cheese!

Meet the Artist – Heather Wilson

Who are you and what do you do?

I am Heather Wilson and I like to do acrylic seascapes and pencil drawing

Why do you do what you do?

I just feel that I have to!

How do you work?

Generally I am inspired by being on the sea and I try to capture some of that feeling

What’s your background?

I have always drawn for as long as I can remember, then I did many years of night school doing ceramics, then a drawing course, then watercolour and now acrylics

What art do you most identify with?

Depends what day it is

What work do you most enjoying doing?

Just being creative

Describe a real-life situation that inspired you?

Leaving Cherbourg at dawn and seeing the sun rise over the English channel over a flat sea

Why art?

Why not?

What memorable responses have you had to your work?

I like it when someone relates to an image, for example I have just sold a sunset beach painting with two dog walkers silhouetted with their dogs and they felt that it was them in the picture

What is your dream project?

Ah. I am also a musician and would love to compose music for my own exhibition

Favourite or most inspirational place?

The sea anywhere!

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

Draw what you see and not what you think you see

Professionally, what’s your goal?

To be happy

What wouldn’t you do without?

My family

 

Meet the Artist – Hilary Thorpe

Who are you and what do you do?

Hi, I am Hilary Thorpe. I’m a painter primarily. Most of my paintings are themed around the coast and yacht racing. I also do a little teaching here and there

Why do you do what you do?

I enjoy the freedom of being self employed. I have done some travelling for my work and this is a wonderful way to see the world.

How do you work?

The majority of my work is painted on location. I love being in the great outdoors in touch with the elements.

What’s your background?

After a years foundation course when I left school, I got into teaching sailing. 10 years after foundation I decided to study for a degree in Textiles.

What art do you most identify with?

That’s a difficult one. I am open to anything, I look at the world all the time with a creative eye

What work do you most enjoying doing?

When sat on a sunny cliff painting away, and its all going well, you just can’t beat it!

Describe a real-life situation that inspired you?

The turning point for me was on our College field trip where I experimented for a second time with palette knife and acrylics…finally I produced something that gave me a buzz.

Why art?

Being creative is something inbuilt in me, I would be artistic anywhere I was, so there’s not much choice in the matter!

What memorable responses have you had to your work?

I have had many memorable responses and these are what keep me going through the rough patches. Once in Italy on a painting trip, I showed a complete stranger a collection of my paintings and she said she felt uplifted. This is when I realised I had something to give through my work.

What music inspires you to work?

I do paint sometimes in my studio to music. It is usually something loud and rousing! – Chicane, Kings of Leon, Madonna have inspired some abstract work!

What is your dream project?

To be resident artist on a classic yacht doing the classic yacht racing circuit in the Mediteranean

Favourite or most inspirational place?

I have spent quite a bit of time at ‘Trevose Head’ in North Cornwall and done some good work there.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

When failing to get in to College for a degree course for the first time, my brother told me to call the college and find out why i did not get in and ask to visit. This I did and I got in the following year, after getting advice about my portfolio.

Professionally, what’s your goal?

To gradually build on my current reputation on the Island and spread the popularity of my work further afield.

You see much more of Hillary’s work on her website

http://www.hilarythorpe.co.uk/

Meet the Artist – Raymond Burt

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Raymond Burt and I am retired and an amateur artist

Why do you do what you do?

Painting and drawing give me a sense of worth and fulfilment in my life

How do you work?

Slowly…as I believe that quality of work rather than quantity is a principle worth adhering to.

What’s your background?

I’m Scottish and came to the island in 1977, I have drawn & painted all my life and for a time did portrait work for a Newport Art Framers. I spent most of my working life in the drawing office of Britten Norman

What art do you most identify with?

Contemporary Realism and Portraits

What work do you most enjoying doing?

Still Life painted in a chiaroscuro style.

What’s your favourite art work?

Strawberry Heels by Dario Campanile

Describe a real-life situation that inspired you?

I was privileged to see first hand the wonderful work of Italian artist Dario Campanile in a Las Vegas showroom and to add my work to his on the website Contemporary-Still-Life.com

Why art?

Art can create so many different types of emotion in so many people as well as yourself.

What memorable responses have you had to your work?

I sold all three of my paintings in the first hour of the art society summer exhibition preview evening last year

What music inspires you to work?

Carmena Burana and any 60’s pop

What is your dream project?

My next painting

Favourite or most inspirational place?

Sistine Chapel in Rome

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

Don’t take yourself too seriously and be humble

Professionally, what’s your goal?

I do not consider myself a professional artist but my goal is and always has been, to produce quality work.

What have you got coming up in the next few months?

Bembridge Art Society’s Spring and Summer Exhibitions

What wouldn’t you do without?

My Christian faith

You can see more of Raymond’s art on the Open Studios Website

http://www.isleofwightarts.com/artists/raymondburt/

Artist Profile – Zoe Barker

Who are you and what do you do?

Zoë Barker, I’m a photographer

Why do you do what you do?

Why does anyone do what they do? Because I love it!

How do you work?

I’m a bit of a purist really – love shooting on film with my large and medium format cameras. I work slowly – it’s all about attention to the detail. It’s quite a meditative process for me really, it’s time out from the rest of the world, nothing else matters beyond you and the camera.

What’s your background?

Spent many years in London working in television, got made redundant and took the opportunity to study photography. I now freelance in TV often working from home or doing short-term contracts in London – feel very lucky as this gives me plenty of flexibility to fit in my photography.

What art do you most identify with?

Has to be photography but I’m inspired by all kinds of art.

What work do you most enjoying doing?

I love domestic interiors – the older or more run down the better. I love the small details of everyday life that we don’t see because we take them for granted. It might be an old scrap of wallpaper or a socket on the wall. It’s all about finding the beauty in the mundane, the extraordinary in the ordinary. I also love ‘Englishness’ – beach huts, village halls, caravans, the seaside – which makes the Isle of Wight a very inspiring place to be.

What’s your favourite art work?

Hard to sum up – obviously a lot of photography. Love Thomas Ruff, Stephen Shore, Egglestone, Jeff Brouws, Scott Peterman, Jem Southam, Joel Sternfeld, Martin Parr and many more….

Describe a real-life situation that inspired you?

When my granddad died very suddenly he left behind a house virtually unchanged in 50 years – it still had round-pin sockets, no central heating, lots of dated fixtures. I realised this place I’d always taken for granted was going to disappear. So I documented the house just as he’d left it. I then returned to photograph again when the house was totally empty. Two years later I approached the new owners and they let me photograph the house a third time – totally renovated and almost unrecognisable. It was an extraordinary and eye-opening journey for me. This is where my photography really began, this project has inspired all my subsequent work.

Why art?

I have a favourite quote, don’t know where it comes from “Photographers see the things we miss or don’t think about. And then report back. So that we have a chance to think again.” Art and beauty are all around us but we’re often too busy or distracted to notice. It might be something as mundane as a grey concrete wall on a grey day. My job as a photographer is to document this ‘extraordinary ordinary’ stuff. I find it inspiring and exciting, there’s something fundamental about the way this close observation connects you to the world around you.

What memorable responses have you had to your work?

Exhibiting photographs of my grandfather’s house got a massive response from family, friends and lots of strangers who all recognised something of their own experiences in the images.

What is your dream project?

At the moment it’s photographing the interior of a hotel in Ryde – a beautiful art nouveau building that’s empty and in bad state of repair. I just know there are some gorgeous pics to be had in there – but been unable to get in so far which is exasperating, it’s my dream project!

Favourite or most inspirational place?

Totally love the Barbican in London – all that gorgeous concrete.

Professionally, what’s your goal?

Having more exhibitions is probably my biggest goal. But admit I don’t really have ‘professional’ goals – it’s more about just doing what I love and if other people get to see my work along the way that’s a bonus.

What have you got coming up in the next few months?

There’ll be Open Studios in the summer. Otherwise working on a new project – hope it’ll become my first solo exhibition on the island. Bit of a departure for me as it’s studio based. Fingers crossed!

What wouldn’t you do without?

My Holga camera, a roll of film and my magic socks.

If you would like to see more of Zoe’s work there is lots to see at

www.zoebarker.com

Art At the Roman Villa

If you would like to see some exciting artwork over the holidays then visit two of our Open Studios artists who are exhibiting at Brading Roman Villa until next Thursday.

Becky Samuelson is a painter of seascapes, landscapes and architectural subjects primarily in acrylic, watercolour and pastel. She is based in her studio in St Helens and been painting full time for 25 years. The Isle of Wight is a special place to live and paint and Becky’s inspiration comes from the amazing Island coastline and landscape plus her travels abroad. Light and colour are integral to her paintings and more recently she has been exploring this through her work in acrylic on sailcloth.

Kate Bolton’s first love is for watercolours but also enjoys oils and pastels (particularly for portraits). Her inspiration comes from many different quarters but increasingly her paintings have to ‘tell a story’ and often include figures.

Kate moved to the Isle of Wight in 1997 and now lives in Brading where she has a small gallery in her 18th century home. The Island offers plenty of inspiration for the painter and Kate established a business – ‘wightwatercolour’ -which perfectly combines her lifetime passion of painting with a career in teaching and training.

Both artists are showing an exciting range of work and there is the added bonus of a beautiful setting and great food. What more could you ask for?

Meet the Artist – Robin Starkey

Who are you and what do you do?

Robin Starkey Award Winning Goldsmith Handmade Designs and Re-designs, using the lost wax process and cuttlefish casting

Why do you do what you do?

To express my artistry and love of nature in my designs

How do you work?

From a workbench in our on-site workshop in Shanklin Jewellers

What’s your background?

Apprentice in Ascot and own business for the past eight years

What art do you most identify with?

Constable and Turner

What work do you most enjoying doing?

Using the lost wax process to create unique, flowing designs, especially when the design is centred around a beautiful stone.

Describe a real-life situation that inspired you?

Love of tree-root systems in nature

Why art?

It comes naturally, my father was a potter

What memorable responses have you had to your work?

When I work on a simple or complicated piece of jewellery which has a huge sentimental value to a person and the result means that they can wear it again and have their loved one near to them.

What music inspires you to work?

All sorts, Pink Floyd, Grateful Dead, Crosby Stills and Nash

What is your dream project?

To make the seven wonders of the world in precious metals and carved semi-precious stone.

                                               Favourite or most inspirational place?

Warburg Nature Reserve, Henley. As a teenager I did voluntary work here and the flow of nature influenced my sense of freedom with life and hence my designs as an adult.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

Know your own soul and people will be at peace with you. (The best advice is always self-taught and not given; in my opinion)

Professionally, what’s your goal?

Just to continue the way we are, as all is well at the moment.

What have you got coming up in the next few months?

Some wonderful re-designs, using inspirational stones and creative customers.

What wouldn’t you do without?

My soldering torch! It sounds simple but it is the core of a goldsmith’s tools. And my wife, without whom I wouldn’t be where I am today.

For further information on Robin’ work visit

http://www.robinstarkey.co.uk/

or

visit him at

Shanklin Jewelllers
69 High Street
Shanklin
Isle of Wight
PO37 6JJ

Open Tues-Sat 10-5pm