Art at Bluestone brings the outside in
THREE artists who all draw their chief
inspiration from Pembrokeshire’s natural splendor have been
selected to showcase their work at Bluestone.
Artwork by Andrea Kelland from Amroth, Graham
Brace from Llangwm and Annabel Greenhalgh from Narberth will adorn
the walls of the 182 lodges, 30 cottages and 17 studios at
Pembrokeshire’s new short break destination, set to welcome its
first guests this summer.
“Art and Bluestone are natural bedfellows”
says Bluestone commercial director Pamela Joseph.
“It is our wish that a stay at Bluestone will
refresh our guests’ inner selves, and we have no doubt that
Pembrokeshire’s natural beauty will help do that. Andrea, Graham
and Annabel’s work is all about the Pembrokeshire environment, so
we felt it entirely appropriate that their pieces should be hanging
in our accommodation, as an artistic interpretation and reminder of
the beauty around us.”
Graham Brace
“As a landscape and seascape artist, I can
think of no better place to live and work but in the heart of the
Pembrokeshire Coast National Park” says Graham Brace.
“The spectacular coast and countryside of
Pembrokeshire, and in particular the estuary alongside which I live
at Llangwm, provides me with endless inspiration and ideas.”
Born and brought up in Milford Haven, Graham
studied graphic design at Cardiff College of Art. After working in
advertising in London for eight years, he returned to Pembrokeshire
and ran a graphic design and advertising consultancy for over 20
years.
It wasn’t until the turn of the millennium
that Graham took up painting and drawing seriously. He now works as
a full-time professional artist and illustrator producing landscape
and seascape paintings, and a range of limited edition prints.
Although coloured pencil predominates in
Graham’s work, he frequently uses a mixture of other media
including chalk pastel, watercolour, ink and gouache.
He comments: “I like to draw things precisely
and I work from a combination of my own photographs, sketches,
notes and memory, while a little occasional artistic licence and
improvisation helps complete the picture.
“I am an inveterate observer and I am
fascinated by reflections in water, the effects of light, texture
and the natural forms and surfaces of trees and rocks. I am drawn
to the features within the landscape as much as the wider view
itself.”
A founder member of the United Kingdom
Coloured Pencil Society, Graham has exhibited widely in one-man and
group exhibitions throughout the UK, and his work exists in many
private collections around the world.
Andrea Kelland
Andrea Kelland’s work is almost entirely
concerned with the coast of Pembrokeshire
and Cornwall .
Born in Carmarthenshire, Andrea has
lived in Pembrokeshire for 12 years, but she hails from a family of
South Devon ‘watermen’, so it’s really no surprise that she feels a
need to be near the sea and in particular the places that man has
helped to shape: the slate and limestone quarries of Pembrokeshire
like Porthgain and Abereiddy and the mines in Cornwall, like
Botallack.
Andrea has been known for her paintings of
sea-pools - looking down through water to the shells and darting
fish, and on to its surface at the reflections of limpets,
vapour-trails and clouds: a transitory water-world. Like the
Japanese masters who spent a lifetime studying and depicting
elements like Fire or Air, Andrea continues to study Water. She
observes the light on and in water, its surface tensions and the
water movements, either as forceful waves or as gentle ripples, and
she studies the reflections on its
surface.
This year, Andrea is holding four solo
exhibitions on the subject of ‘the power of water’, in Wales and
Cornwall. This latest work is more direct, forceful and textured.
She lays paint on thick, and sometimes layers the work with glazes
.
Andrea trained in Painting and Fine Art at
Kingston School of Art in the early ‘60’s and has held many
exhibitions of her work in Wales and in Devon. She is a
member of the Watercolour Society of Wales and is a highly
respected painter in oils and in watercolours.
She says: “Even when at art school, I longed
to be at the sea’s edge. My degree work then was of figures in big
surf.
“Here in Pembrokeshire, apart from the rugged
coast and seas, I really love the Blue Lagoon at Abereiddy : the
ruins of the once busy quarry and the wonderful blue/green of its
water, which changes continually with the light, or a breeze or by
people jumping in and disturbing the surface . I’ve made loads of
paintings of it and never tire of its changes.”
Annabel Greenhalgh
Originally from the Wirral, Annabel fell in love with
Pembrokeshire 25 years ago and continues to find the county’s
beautiful beaches and countryside a rich source of inspiration.
Working in pastel and oil, Annabel's landscape paintings capture
the mood of a piece through careful and accurate attention to the
natural landscape, while employing her emotional response to the
places she loves.
“I hope to convey, through my paintings, the thrill and
foreboding of impending storms, the beach in solitary stillness,
memories of bluebell paths and the sheer joy and wealth of
fulfilment to be found in the world around us” she says.
Annabel's pastel paintings, largely depicting traditional
landscapes of Pembrokeshire, are easily accessible, requiring
little interpretation. Her oil paintings have a slightly more
impressionistic feel but are still largely based on a realistic
portrayal of the local landscape.
Although self-taught, Annabel has been described as the foremost
British pastel landscape artist and in her capacity as one of the
three British Judges for Landscape Artist International, is
frequently asked to assess work submitted for membership. She is
also a member of the International Society of Marine Painters.
Original work and limited edition prints can be seen at Annabel’s
studio.