Paintings

Edward has spent most of his life in Solva, amongst the vast open skies which offer the overpowering sensation of freedom. It is this freedom which proves to be the single most important factor when attempting to create pieces that hold raw emotion. The harmony of the sky and sea, both in terms of colour and detail, is something he strives to portray in his work.He works with meticulous application of paint with varied thicknesses and contrasts, to entice the viewer into the subject matter.

Howard Birchmore began drawing at age three, started painting with oils when twelve years old and completed his first official commission when only fifteen.After studying illustration a career followed in graphic design. Howard at present is using acrylics although his distinctive style is nearer to water colour. "Landscape has played an integral part in my visual world. Brought up in London has lead me to appreciate contrasts on a magnificent scale."

St. David’s artist, Pauline Beynon, runs the ORIEL-Y-FELIN GALLERY in St. Davids, with business partner Angela Samuel. Born in Derbyshire, she graduated in Art and Psychology at Loughborough and taught near Burton-on-Trent. Having farmed the land around the impressive St. Davids Cathedral for many years with her family and owning the well-known Tyddewi herd of pedigree Welsh Black Cattle, she delights in the wild, untamed Pembrokeshire landscapes and seascapes, interpreting their constantly changing light and textures and moods in a variety of media. Her work is shown excusively at the Oriel-y-Felin Gallery in St. Davids, with occasional exhibitions elsewhere in the UK.

Sheila Craft was born in Wimbledon, Surrey, and was educated in Guildford and graduated in Mathematics from Reading University. For ten tears she concentrated on her career in mathematics before she discovered that she had a talent for painting. Slowly, art superseded science. She moved to Pembrokeshire 14 years ago, to run a holiday cottage business in the picturesque village of Porthgain. Now Sheila had a wealth of scenes waiting to be painted on her very doorstep. Her love and understanding of the mythical quality of the landscape are very evident in her work, and she achieves effortlessly the luminosity of light so special and individual to this part of North Pembrokeshire.

Pembrokeshire born and bred artist, Sian shares her intimate knowledge of this beautiful, dramatic landscape in her evocative oil paintings. Having worked predominantly in watercolours for many years, her preferred medium now is definitely oil paint. Kyffin Williams and Evan John are the painters she feels most influenced by. Sian can often be seen here with us in the gallery .

Susie was born in North Wales and after graduating in animation and graphics worked as a designer in Cardiff. In 2001 she became a full time painter. She loves the Welsh coastlines with quirky architectural features, and her brightly coloured work often contains textures, typography, fabrics and things that sparkle. All her original work will have a fabric heart stitched on - she only paints places she loves! These cheerful paintings make you smile and she and her husband have recently started to make ceramics featuring her designs.

Roy is a marine artist and has been painting with passion for the past twenty years. He has lived by the sea all his life and know its moods and colours intimately. He was voted SAA Artist of the Year 2000 and was short-listed for the Daily Mail's “Not the Turner Prize” 2003. In his book, "Sea and Sky in Oils" Roy shows how to capture the power, majesty and atmosphere of the sea. He travels throughout Britain exhibiting and giving demonstrations.

Born in London of Irish extraction, Monica divides her time between living in Solva and Co. Cork. Having spent many years sailing in Celtic waters, she feels challenged to interpret in paint, the beauty, history and culture of these areas, concentrating on essence rather than actual scene, focusing on the interaction of colour within the Celtic landscape.

Vernon Jones is a working artist from South Wales, exhibiting both in the U.K. and internationally. A predominant feature in his work has been to render accurately the chosen subject. His eye for detail and the need to improve his technical ability has become a force to push against his limitations, forming new circles of growth artistically, thus challenging himself to meet a higher and higher standard of work. The foundation of his art together with accuracy lays also in technique, with observation and a sense of balance being necessary components in each piece.

Rod Williams has lived and worked in St. Davids for the past thirty years, before that he exhibited mainly in the North of England and London. He trained at Wrexham and Manchester Colleges of Art between 1951 and 1956. In 1961 he was awarded the Saxon Barton Prize by the Royal Cambrian Academy. Since then he has shown in Eccles, Salford, Bolton and the Quantas Gallery in Bond Street. More recently he has exhibited in various galleries in Pembrokeshire, Swansea, Chepstow, Bath and Bristol. Since 1979 he has tutored Painting Holidays in St. Davids and painted the landscape of Pembrokeshire. His work is widely known through the New Artists Greetings Cards published in St. Davids and the articles on painting he writes for The Artist magazine. His colour is optmistic and his light touch, capturing the spirit of Pembrokeshire.

Heather Howe's love of the sea has been a constant source of inspiration in her painting. Following a foundation course at Falmouth Art School and a BA degree from Exeter College of Art and Design, Heather set up her first studio in West Berkshire and aged only 22 had her first solo show with the 'Centuary Galleries' in Henley-Upon-Thames. Simultaneously her work was being shown at `Liberty's' and the 'Medici Galleries' in London. In recent years Heather has successfully shown her work worldwide and her watercolours drenched with light and softly painted oils have led to commercial commissions as diverse as designs for greetings cards to CD covers. Currently producing a new series of etchings, Heather's paintings and prints continue to combine her sense of place with her interest and love of poetry, mythology and nature.

Sarah Jane Brown was born in 1970 and lives in the heart of the spectacular Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Although she has been a self-taught artist for more than twenty years, she finally embarked on a formal art education in 2005, studying Foundation Art and Design at Pembrokeshire College. Subsequently, she specialised in Fine Art (Painting) at the West Wales School of the Arts, where she was awarded 'Student of the Year' and graduated with a First Class Honours Degree. Painting is for Sarah Jane an intimate way of expressing herself and the landscape she loves. She often incorporates elements of drawing, printmaking, and photography into her practise; these are ways of embedding the landscape into her 'mind's eye' and to 'work out' ideas for painting.

Alice lives in north Pembrokeshire and specialises in depicting landscapes and little cottages in watercolour and mixed media. Her work is beautifully presented and highly collectable

Having recently moved to Pembokeshire following a period of study at Falmouth College of Arts in Cornwall, Artist and Illustrator Thomas Haskett is now thriving on the constant inspiration provided by his new surroundings. Deeply rooted in the landscape, and the sea, his work is a unique view of the ancient buildings of the British Isles, the countryside they exist in and the flora and fauna that inhabit it. Painting mostly in oils or watercolours, Thomas’ work is highly representational, accurate, detailed, and painted with a vigor and verve that working direct from life imbue. The colours, light and mood are therefore unique to the day on which the work is produced. He exhibits in the South East, the South West and now in Wales. His work is collected worldwide with pieces throughout Europe, America and as far away as Australia and New Zealand.