From dreamy watercolours to striking oil paintings, mixed mediums, ceramics and glassware, Cheltenham's Paragon Gallery has an array of artwork to spruce up your home this autumn.
Featuring artists for across the UK, as well as those based in and inspired by Gloucestershire, SoGlos highlights nine new pieces currently on show - and on sale - at Paragon.
Lower priced artwork from Paragon Gallery
Ceramic Forms by Camilla Ward
Whether working with paint or clay, surface and line are fundamental to Camilla Ward's work. The most important consideration is the effect of colour on space, light and mood within a piece. Real or imagined experiences of the past and present influence the development of each artwork, with drawings, notes and photos evolving in the studio into mainly abstract compositions that occasionally border on landscapes.
Ward builds up the surface, laying down colour and texture, sometimes applying clay, editing back, and then overpainting, reworking, scratching and scoring to create her unique works.
To find out more about Camilla Ward, visit paragongallery.co.uk.
Come, Come Bleak Winds by Ashar
Ashar works mainly in oils on wooden panel, creating abstract works with the aim of moving the viewer emotionally. She captures a painterly response to the spirit of a landscape rather than simply a visual impression, thereby creating work that has the ability to be keenly felt.
Born in Surrey in 1942, Ashar now lives and works on the Somerset Levels, which are her great inspiration. Her winter months are spent on the moors sketching and soaking up the essence of the landscape. She then uses these sketches to reconnect with her feelings for a place when working back in the studio.
To find out more about Ashar, visit paragongallery.co.uk.
Friends by Michele Lehman
Lehman was born in Switzerland but moved to Mijas in southern Spain more than 30 years ago. After arriving there, she opened an art gallery as an outlet for local artists. Although not an artist herself, she began sketching to pass the time, beginning with a sketch of an old woman in black who passed the gallery every day. She moved too fast to draw so the image captured her from behind - and her style was born.
Lehman’s figures are wistful; they turn away from you, point to something outside of your range of vision, or they hurry towards an unknown destination. There is always something they’re not telling you, leading the viewer to instinctively begin to make up their own story.
To find out more about Michele Lehman, visit paragongallery.co.uk.
Mid priced artwork from Paragon Gallery
Tide Race by Rod Nelson
Nelson is a self-taught printmaker based in Gloucestershire, where he works as a full-time artist. Specialising in woodblock prints, he has a unique approach, using tools and techniques that he has spent 30 years developing. He has exhibited widely with regular shows across the UK and Germany and had work selected for the International Print Centre of New York’s Winter Exhibition.
Nelson teaches woodcut technique at the renowned college of arts and crafts at West Dean in Sussex. He also teaches at the RWA, in Germany, Holland, and runs workshops from his home.
To find out more about Rod Nelson, visit paragongallery.co.uk.
Cool, White Spring by Bruce McLean
One of the major figures of contemporary British art, McLean’s work is in a permanent state of movement and invention. From the late 1960s his range of media has included painting, printmaking, sculpture, film, photography, drawing and live work.
Humour, scepticism and wit are always central. He seeks to challenge the concept of sculpture and art by creating work that questions establishment thinking, materials and methods of display. A must-have for any contemporary art collector.
To find out more about Bruce McLean, visit paragongallery.co.uk.
Across Cannop by Doug Eaton
Eaton’s style is unmistakable with a bright and bold painterly quality. His inspiration comes from his beautiful surroundings in the Forest of Dean. He tries to provide only a minimum of information to the viewer to suggest the subject, leaving the rest to the imagination.
Eaton grew up in Coleford in the Forest of Dean. After school he went on to study at the Stroud School of Art and then Cheltenham College of Art. He began to paint full-time in 1977 but worked in the graphics industry until 2001.
To find out more about Doug Eaton, visit paragongallery.co.uk.
Upper priced artwork from Paragon Gallery
Night Flourish by Jerry Browning
Browning was born in Dorset in 1954. As a student at the Exeter and Reading Colleges of Art, he painted under the tutelage of Sir Terry Frost and Patrick Heron. He has worked alongside acclaimed painters Patrick Proctor, Albert Irvin, Adrian Heath and Gillian Ayres.
He became immersed in American abstract expressionism and the work of Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline and Robert Montgomery. Back in the UK, he joined the famous colony of British artists in St Ives, where he continues to explore the growing American influence and develops his own unique style.
To find out more about Jerry Browning, visit paragongallery.co.uk.
Drifting Confetti by Melanie Cormack-Hicks
Cormack-Hicks completed her fine art degree in the late 1990’s in Cheltenham. She believes that the inherent relationship we all have to the landscape allows her paintings to summon strong emotions.
She said: 'Every painting has its own narrative, but it does not aim to tell you my story. I believe that once a painting is complete it is no longer mine, that I need to step back to allow the viewer to step into the painting and find their own narrative. I believe this is the reason why my paintings evoke such deep-set memories and sentiment in their owners'.
To find out more about Melanie Cormack-Hicks, visit paragongallery.co.uk.
Polar Shift by Adam Binder
Binder lives and works in the Cotswolds, where the diverse environment provides endless resource for his inspiration.
He said: 'Nature is a wonder and a joy to observe and it’s through my sculpture that I endeavour to connect further with wildlife and capture the character of my subject. While I’m sculpting I feel that I’m engaging with the spirit of the animal, sensing its subtle movement and suggestion of body language. For me, nature and sculpture are the perfect marriage. I see repetition in form, line, mass and detail throughout the natural world, sculpted over time but in perfect harmony. Nature is my passion and my constant distraction'.
To find out more about Adam Binder, visit paragongallery.co.uk.
