From wintry watercolours to striking oil paintings, mixed mediums, ceramics and glassware, Cheltenham's Paragon Gallery has an array of artwork to enliven your home this winter.
Featuring artists from across the UK, as well as those based in and inspired by Gloucestershire, SoGlos highlights nine new pieces at Paragon.
Lower priced artwork from Paragon Gallery
Odd One Out by Nicki Gwynn-Jones
Nicki Gwynn-Jones says: 'The challenge for me is to manipulate light from a fresh and unexpected perspective using just my imagination and my chosen tool - the camera. There is always another way of looking at things; it depends on how you choose to see the world. From the hustle and bustle of communal feeding to the peace and quiet of nap time, I try to capture the essence of the birds that I encounter. I prefer to find sympathetic backdrops such as water and sky, and high-key light is what I love best.'
To find out more about Nicki Gwynn-Jones, visit paragongallery.co.uk.
Echoes III by Clarisa Rakos
Clarisa Rakos's multilayered paintings draw upon a fascination with the spiritual world. Standing stones, dolmens, moais and menhirs, carvings, rupestrian painting, tattoos and body art, colours and textures have all influenced her work. Having spent much of her life in Chile, the art of the nation’s indigenous people has also been a key inspiration.
Her artwork is abstract and intuitive; most of her paintings are composed of many layers, which are scraped down before being covered with paint in order to create an aged and distressed patina, with many different textures and marks.
To find out more about Clarisa Rakos, visit paragongallery.co.uk.
In Time by Zoë Ashbrook
Working in layers, Zoë Ashbrook's paintings evolve organically through a repetition of adding and subtracting, scrapes, scratches, delicate and bold movements. Providing the opportunity for unexpected developments, serendipitous responses emerge while creating a rich tapestry of mark-making and history, much like the landscape itself.
To find out more about Zoë Ashbrook, visit paragongallery.co.uk.
Mid priced artwork from Paragon Gallery
Scented by Rachel McDonnell
Rachel McDonnell’s paintings explore the experience of light, optical trickery, and pattern. Keenly influenced by issues concerning the environment and our effect upon it, she creates lyrical records of the landscape that celebrate the beauty and fragility of the natural world.
To find out more about Rachel McDonnell, visit paragongallery.co.uk.
Our Blue Houses by Corine Ko
Corine Ko’s artistic process fuses photography and painting. Reworking her photographs with the eye of a painter, she integrates heterogeneous elements to generate original digital collages. Photography is embedded in her canvases, lending the work a soul and substance that is enhanced by the colours of the painting.
To find out more about Corine Ko, visit paragongallery.co.uk.
Where I Seek To Be Free by Melanie Cormack-Hicks
Melanie Cormack-Hicks’s paintings speak of
colour, energy and light. She paints the landscapes she loves, working from her
studio in the Cotswolds. Her subject matter includes the majestic woodlands and
sweeping meadows that surround her home. She frequently travels to Scotland,
Devon and Cornwall to paint and gather inspiration for her breathtaking river
scenes and powerful seascapes.
To find out more about Melanie Cormack-Hicks, visit paragongallery.co.uk.
Upper priced artwork from Paragon Gallery
Foxburrow by Steven MacIver
Originally from Orkney, Steven MacIver moved to Aberdeen in 1998 where he attended Gray’s School of Art. He then went onto a Master’s in Fine Art at The Slade School of Art in London and then the British School at Rome. His most recent body of work is inspired by time spent in nature as an avid runner on the trails and bridleways of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.
To find out more about Steven MacIver, visit paragongallery.co.uk.
Hold your Breath by Iryna Yermolova
A colourist of exceptional skill, Iryna Yermolova plays a cat-and-mouse game of figuration, offering up jewel-like knots of reality and emotion that immediately unravel if they are gripped too tightly. Hers is an art that underscores the ephemeral nature of each moment with oil paint imbued with descriptive power.
To find out more about Iryna Yermolova, visit paragongallery.co.uk.
O by Jane Clatworthy
Contemporary painter Jane Clatworthy works in oil and cold wax medium. This combination allows her to create thick impasto layers and thin glazes within her paintings. Layering, veiling, excavating and revealing are processes used in much of her work. Whilst building a painting the artist becomes engaged with the work in a way that she likens to a conversation with her canvas. What is needed for balance? Which bits are too noisy? Where does it need some drama?
To find out more about Jane Clatworthy, visit paragongallery.co.uk.
