Esther Douglas
Following the exhibition of Carol Barry’s work, we look forward to welcoming Esther Douglas and her work: ‘Noticing’ from mid-July until mid-September 2024.
You are invited to the Opening Night, meet and hear from the artist & enjoy free refreshments between 5-7pm on Thursday 11th July at Next Door Hextable. Esther will speak about her work at 6pm.
Esther writes: “Two years ago, I began studying painting and printmaking at Glasgow School of Art after choosing to do an art foundation year in Manchester. These past couple of years of full-time art-making have been wonderful, and I have grown ever more convinced of the power of art and the necessity of beauty in our lives.
My paintings are often about people. Whether portraits of faces or compositions of figures clustered in conversation, I am drawn to capturing moments of everyday interactions between people. I think that much beauty is found in mundanity. Still lives and landscapes feature in my work too, painted in an attempt to further celebrate beautiful ordinariness in daily assemblages and views that we rarely linger with. I hope that these paintings of everyday moments might encourage you to sit a little longer with them, see more clearly, slow down and simply notice.
Faces endlessly fascinate me, and I love to capture the character of people in portrait painting. Working in oil paints on canvas, I like to layer and sculpt with impasto marks the paint on the canvas surface until something of the wonder of the sitter is captured and documented in the piece. Each one feels like the sharing of a story.
I carry a sketchbook around with me to fill its pages with scribbles and sketches and sayings overheard. As an avid documenter of life, I too enjoy taking photographs that often become the beginnings of artworks alongside drawings made on the go. I am hugely inspired by documentary film makers and photographers alongside portrait painters that span from Rembrandt to contemporary figurative artists like Colin Davidson, Jennifer Packer and Tim Braden.
I hope that you enjoy the collection of works in this exhibition and that they might encourage you to observe a little more closely the beauty found in the corners of your everyday life.”
If you would like to chat with Esther about her work or commission her for portraiture or other original work, book a cuppa and a conversation by emailing: estherdouglasart@gmail.com
Any purchase enquiries should be directed to Sue Haward: by email at office@stph.org.uk The exhibition is in the Cafe and Upper Room and is viewable during opening hours: Monday- Saturday, 9 am - 4pm). To arrange a viewing outside of these hours, please contact Sue Haward on 07791840126 or office@stph.org.uk
www.estherdouglas.com @estherdouglasart
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