Above Catswood, July and Near Stancombe, August
By Angie Spencer
Original artworks
Oil on board
Framed
Image size: H: 18cm x W: 28cm
Framed size: H: 27cm x W: 37cm
£275 each
Angie is drawn back, again and again, to the big skies of this flat agricultural land at the top of the green and tranquil Slad Valley, near Stroud and Painswick.
It's one of the favourite painting spots she reaches on her e-bike, equipped with easel and full oil painting kit. She loves the big airy skies and the larks that enjoy them, the open tree-lined fields, the seasonal changes of colour and, nostalgically, its similarity to a place where she grew up, near Scarborough in Yorkshire.
The result is a pictorial diary that takes us through from winter to spring, onto the harvest and back into the stormy skies of November. Here we have two Summer views, made more prominent by the step-by-step coverage of the creation of the Above Catswood painting in the June 2024 issue of The Artist magazine, which focused on Angie's plein air work.
"Catswood is just next to this area and I paint from vantage points in the lane and pivot, 360 degrees, to get these views of the copses and the barn with no roof, which you can see from miles around."
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In fact, Angie is to be found outside, all year round, painting the water and woodlands near her Stroud home.
"Ever since I was a small child and our family would go to Loch Eil, on the West coast of Scotland, for our annual caravan holiday I've noticed the power Nature has to soothe the human heart and return it to its original innocence and naturalness. Growing up very close to beautiful countryside around Scarborough and the North York Moors, I would take myself on bike rides and walks to recharge and rest. ... it's this wonderfully restorative, healing power of Nature which draws me to my subject matter as a painter and my my intention to try to transmit what I experience to you."
Angie donates 10% of her sales of originals to charities which help protect the environment.
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.