GWR - The Brunel Goods Shed, Stroud
By Angie Spencer
Original artwork
Oil on board
Framed
Image size: H: 30cm x W:30cm
Framed size: H: 34cm x W: 34cm
This is an unusual subject for Angie who doesn't often depict buildings and urban scenes. But this one is a special place for her - close to her Stroud home and painted en plein air during the summer of 2024.
It's a glimpse of a building with quite a history: the Goods Shed was built in 1845, to a standard design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and is now the only survivor of this type, in use till 1966 and now a Grade II Star listed building. It is a distinctive example of industrial architecture in Brunel's Tudor Gothic revival style with fine buttresses, stonework and arches.
Almost in contrast to its grimy industrial past, Angie has presented it in soft pastel peaches and greys, with a lush foreground of leaves. Twenty-first century Stroud is hinted at in the red brick building in the distance.
ABOUT ANGIE SPENCER
Angie was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire in 1959 and now lives in Stroud where she has her studio.
Her paintings explore the beauty of the landscape. She has a particular love of - and expertise in - painting the moving waters of rivers and lakes where she swims regularly throughout the year.
She works mostly in oils ‘en plein air’ and draws inspiration from the Romantic movement and their approach to the landscape. If work is developed in the studio it always begins with plein air drawings rather than with photographs.
“I find that there is no substitute for direct observation. I paint best when I'm immersed in the landscape. There are colours and subtleties in nature that are difficult to imagine in the studio. The direct effects of light and atmosphere can only ever be hinted at in a painting but there is a greater chance of capturing it if one is observing carefully from life.”
Angie graduated with a BA in Fine Art at the University of Gloucestershire in 2004. She is also a classical violinist and, currently, is leader of the Stroud Symphony Orchestra, as well as playing in the Capriol Chamber Orchestra and in a string quartet.