Artists' statements

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Fran Bunting

Fran took up painting again when her children started school. She enrolled on an Adult Education class and was lucky enough to have an excellent tutor. Over the years she also attended portrait, life and figure drawing classes. What began as a hobby soon became a passion.

Her work often includes figures and she is drawn to human interaction and the situations people find themselves in. Fran is particularly attracted to ‘character’ people and hopes that an element of humour is portrayed in some of her paintings.

Fran has exhibited with the Society of Women Artists at The Mall Galleries and is a member of Farnham, Guildford and Woking Art Societies. She has won several awards with Woking Society of Arts, the latest being in April of this year when she was awarded the Millennium Trophy. She was also a runner up in a competition run by The Daily Mail which was judged by Jack Vettriano. (www.westsurreyartists.co.uk )

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Angela Lenman

I started working in batik in 1982, and since then I have studied with batik artists whose work I admire.

My inspiration comes mainly from old, crumbling buildings, and I work largely from photos collected on my travels. I sometimes work on fabric in a more or less traditional style and I love experimenting with alternative dyes and fabrics. However I find working with paper most rewarding because of the wonderful, sometimes unexpected, results you can achieve.

I have been running workshops in batik since the late 1980’s, at first in Oxfordshire and then later in Surrey and Hampshire, where I also exhibit regularly. More recently I have led classes for children and adults, including summer schools and workshops at residential colleges like Missenden Abbey and West Dean. As an active member of the Batik Guild for over 20 years, I take part in many Guild activities including exhibitions and demonstrations. (www.batikguild.org.uk )

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Susie Lidstone

Susie is a contemporary professional artist based in Farnham Surrey. She takes commissions from all over the world but many of her customers are local to Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire.

She gained her B.A Honours Degree in Fine Art in 1981 from The West Surrey College of Fine Art. Susie is a full member of The Society of Floral Painters, and Exhibiting Member of both Farnham and Guildford Art Societies. She is represented in The United States of America by Artists Haven Gallery and in the UK by Jesmond Design Studio.

Susie's reputation is growing for her work in artistically replicating Shop Fronts and Houses, in Watercolour and limited edition Prints she claims to have a fascination for painting "Bricks"! each one has its own character.

Full details of her artistic activities can be found at www.susielidstone.com

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Michael Mclellan

I have always practised as an architect and many of the images in the paintings reflect this.

I find that my initial concepts often change as the process of painting seems to determine each subsequent step so that the end product, to my surprise, is very different to the starting point.

As a character in one of Kurt Vonnegut’s books says “I lay the first stroke of colour. After that the canvas has to do at least half of the work.” I find that an observer cab discover interpretations of which I am unaware making me realise that there is always a two-way process at work between painter and viewer. Such ambiguity is an element that I welcome.

I have been open to many influences but two that particularly stand out are Magritte and Max Ernst.

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Min Maude

Studied Fashion and Textiles at Nottingham College of Art followed by post graduate Theatre Design. Has worked extensively in the Theatre and Film Industry. As a painter has exhibited on the Arundel Trail, at West Dean House, West Stoke House, the Moncrieff Bray Gallery and has had nine paintings accepted for the Chichester Open – one of which was awarded a Highly Commended. She has work in many private and corporate collections in Britain and in France.

Her work varies from the representational to the abstract with more of an emphasis on colour and texture than subject matter. Her paintings are more about a situation or a thing than of it.

“I’m always trying to surprise myself. It’s usually a good painting if I don’t know where it’s come from!”

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Lydia Millward

Lydia lives and works between London and the Welsh borders. Her oil paintings and drawings currently focus on landscapes, cityscapes, still life and the figure. Having studied Fine Art at The Byam Shaw School of Art, Lydia is now studying at a traditional atelier in London learning the disciplines of sculpture.

She will be exhibiting a collection of landscapes in Brecon in August, and is working towards a solo show in London in 2011. ( www.lydiamillward.com )

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Jan Shand

I was born in the Highlands of Scotland and it is to this source that I often return for inspiration. Now living in London, my trips back to the Highlands are an opportunity to rediscover the landscape of my childhood.

These paintings are about landscape and memory. They are my response to being there and to not being there. They are as much about the weather and season as the place depicted, because these elements cannot be separated, and one place can be the source of many paintings.

My work is a response to standing in a place of great natural beauty and trying to capture and share the powerful impression that these places have had on me.

The paintings evolve from a collection of photographs both old and new, drawings, stones, driftwood, words, and thoughts, and each piece takes a journey of its own within the studio.

The work hangs between the literal and the abstract, creating a sense of place rather than an exact translation of landscape. (www.janshand.co.uk )

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Sheila Wallis

Joint Guildford Arts and Clyde&Co Award winner 2009, Threadneedle Prize winner 2009, Artist in Residence Watts Gallery 2009 – 2010

My work is underpinned by an interest in the way the body looks, the emphasis is to communicate a sense of ‘creatureliness’, inspired by Ernest Becker’s description of the human condition. A speculative attitude and freedom to explore, from conception to completion is essential; I follow a methodology of inspecting and learning unselfconsciously- as a child would perhaps, without pre-conceived ideas of exactly what I want the viewer to see, feel and think. Recognising particular elements which ‘work’ during the process of making a painting, then stopping, leaving these visible, would not be possible had I circumscribed ideas about my viewer, or indeed my own intentions. Therefore ‘Thinking through doing’ is an overarching concept which motivates my practice.

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