PICTURE OF THE MONTH

January 2021
by Sadie Brockbank

I have chosen Sadie Brockbank's Forest Deer as the Picture of the Month for January. I love how this wise animal carries both the sheltering trees and roosting birds, on her travels through the forest. The work reminds me of the interwoven strands of the natural world and the fragile balance within. I find the sculpture both strong and delicate. Thank you Sadie.

Chosen from our online Gallery by Helen Lunn

December 2020
by Helen Lunn

I am drawn to the organic, luscious quality of this piece of art. Intriguing mixed media that has been formed to produce a distinctive 3D work on paper. Thank you Helen!

Chosen from our online Gallery by Sue Tait

November 2020
by Sue Tait

A comforting interpretation of the West Country landscape. A painting to look into and take a stroll around. Thanks to the artist.

Chosen from our online Gallery by William Redman

October 2020
by William Redman

I like the simplicity of it. The shapes may be simple but the perspective, palette and composition are unusual and work together so well.

Chosen from our online Gallery by David Cotton

September 2020
by David Cotton

I should admit that my weakness for the seascape is getting bigger and bigger. In David's work I've been fascinated by the effect of infinite depth that the artist managed to achieve on the horizon not only by colours but also by the intersection between the shape of clouds and waves. I am also surprised by the colour palette he chose for this subject. I would tend to say almost monochrome palette but not entirely.

Chosen from our online Gallery by Calina Lefter

August 2020
by Calina Lefter

I love the contrasting colours mirroring the nature of our earth with that of the cosmos. The composition brings out a surreal nature in the painting, carrying within it a sense of optimism, wonder and awe.

Chosen from our online Gallery by Bhamini Markella

July 2020
by Bhamini Markella

I have chosen Bhamini Markella's piece, Embroidered Window.

A bright and uplifting piece of work, I admire the bold use of colour. I love the fact that Bhamini is re-cycling fabrics for her embroideries creating fabulous pictures from unwanted scraps.

The influence of India is very manifest and a special delight to me having recently spent a wonderful month there.

Chosen from our online Gallery by Lou Jessop

June 2020
by Lou Jessop

There is a wonderful tactile quality to Lou Jessop's work. This is a piece I would like to hold in my hands. It reminds me of a votive object, connecting back to prehistory, whose purpose has been lost in the passage of time – a symbol of motherhood/fertility perhaps? A figure however, that is slightly unsettling with a strong presence. The fact that it is made of re-purposed knitwear brings an added dimension and resonance to the work.

Chosen from our online Gallery by Tom Cartmill

May 2020
by Tom Cartmill

The work I have chosen is an abstract work in ink on paper: 'Reverberations IV' one of a series by Tom Cartmill.

On paper, tensions have been formed between abstraction and representation, illusion and reality, imagined and real time. I find a strange beauty in the veils and mists, mountains and valleys which are alluded to by the drawings' 'waterfalls' of lines echoing the spaces they create; yet its' aesthetic is not reliant on this kind of narrative, but more on the narrative of its' own making. The rhythms of white lines draw me into a metaphorical journey through time and space; searching for references, I am hypnotised. Intricate textures, suggestions of surfaces, contours, layers and shapes, become mysterious countries in a parallel shifting world with a very different geography. An intriguing drawing remains: a fragment of experience, a mysterious record of time, where process is syntax, and where there is no map to guide, just the compulsion to continue to journey forward and share the artists' interest and excitement in the voyage.

Chosen from our online Gallery by Michael Norcross

April 2020
by Michael Norcross

Painting is visual metaphor.

The painting, on first reading, is a dramatic view of man-made nature. The colours convey an early morning walk in a frosty park. The raking light and elongated shadows create a dramatic perspective which leads to the centre of the symmetrical composition.

However, the image gradually reveals more.

The compositional centrepiece – the two trees – seem to be locked into a never-ending dialogue with each other. Gesture meets rebuttal, argument is countered. Two actors in a play? Two politicians in debate? Two sports fans in a bar?

This immortal, immovable spectacle is watched impassively by an audience of silent, vertical trees in the background.

This is the power of the artist's vision; to transform the everyday into the human condition.

Chosen from our online Gallery by Steve Lloyd Davies

March 2020
by Steve Lloyd Davies

I am captivated by the application of tone and texture that communicates a sensuality, strength and fluidity of the male figure. This is combined with the use of black, composition and simplicity of line that convey vulnerability and mystery - there is no face or complete head. It has become uncommon to represent the human figure in 'Art' and I salute the courage to do so.

The title points the way to Greek myth - Icarus represents the consequences of hubris (flying too close to the sun, despite his father's warnings, and drowning as a consequence) - and the image most likely contains symbolism related to this (why the streak of turquoise ?), but as a viewer this is almost unimportant because the image endures alone as a depiction of fervor, denial and exposure.

Chosen from our online Gallery by Rebecca Mendoza

February 2020
by Rebecca Mendoza

I was drawn to Rebecca’s picture for the simplicity and purity of the image. The contemplative blue square is a generous invitation into a calm and meditative environment where the onus is on the experience the viewer.

It is this aspect that reminded me of the work of James Turrell whose ’Skyspaces’ are specifically proportioned chambers with an aperture in the ceiling open to the sky. Indeed, as Turrell says “My work is more about your seeing than it is about my seeing”.

The picture offers space and time to look beyond our image saturated lives and find positivity and hope in the natural world.

Chosen from our online Gallery by Heather McAteer