Artist of the Week - Melanie Barrett

Artist of the Week - Melanie Barrett

Bluebells by Melanie Barrett

After graduating with a degree in Fine Art from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 2003, Melanie went on to obtain a Masters in Painting from Wimbledon School of Art in 2004. Since then she has been continuing to paint and draw, focusing on portraiture, and in particular the narrative within painting. She has taught Art in schools in Mexico and Uganda, and to date has exhibited in various venues in Newcastle, Hackney, Kings Cross, the Discerning Eye Exhibition 2003, London Art Fair 2005, and in Glasgow for the regional finals of Channel Five's Big Art Competition.


Melanie says: "I am fascinated by the drama that can be created by the interplay of light and dark within a composition, and am preoccupied with recreating the beauty that can be captured in fleeting moments of every day life.
My work is heavily influenced by photography and I take inspiration from the work of Sickert, Degas and more recently, Tim Gardner."


To see more of Melanie's work on Affordable British Art, click HERE

Artist of the Week - Tina Ashton

This week we have Tina Ashton as our Artist of the week.

"Let Autumn Begin" by Tina Ashton

Tina Ashton was born in Caerphilly, South Wales in 1961 and amongst her memories of education, at a welsh speaking shcool, she remembers enjoying art and recalls winning prizes in creative competitions. However, she also remembers her disappointment when discouraged from studying Art for school qualifications in favour of more academic subjects. Tina’s career then took a very different path commencing with several years service with the Royal Air Force in Air Traffic Control followed by a long career in administration. In time Tina’s career also took a back seat to married life and bringing up two sons.


Many years later at the age of 39 Tina gave up her career and returned to full time education to study Art and Design. Creating art and particularly painting again was a “very personal and emotional awakening” she recollects, and indeed she hopes it is just the beginning of a long creative journey.


In 2003 Tina was proud to win the prestigious Malcolm Kendal Award in recognition of her talented contribution towards a motivated and artistic awareness. In the years to follow Tina went on to exhibit her work regularly across the UK, amongst them several solo exhibitions and a group exhibition at one of London’s Cork Street Galleries.


During the past 10 years much of Tina’s collection of work has been dominated by her modern portraiture in Acrylic. These bold, colourful portraits of today’s woman have proved very successful for her, although they are constantly evolving and are just a small part of a much wider body of work these days.


More recently, from her studio on the edge of the Buckinghamshire countryside, Tina has been painting on the theme of Love and Romance and her collection of semi-abstract paintings inspired by Lovers has been selling to private and corporate collectors across the world. Tina has a love of all things romantic and particularly old black and white movies which has fed and inspired this series of work, although the strong colours and loose fluidity of these new works are a much more modern statement. “I believe one of the greatest challenges for an artist is to display on canvas the special and intimate moments that lovers share and I hope that I go some way towards achieving that” Says Tina

Click HERE to see more of Tina's artwork on Affordable British Art

Artist of the Week - Angela Arnold

Angela Arnold is our Artist of the Week, this week.

"Showery Day, St Andrews" by Angela Arnold

Angela is a professional exhibiting artist who lives and works in the North East of Scotland. Angela says:

" I spent most of my youth on the Continent: born in Germany, I have also lived in France, Spain, Holland, Belgium...finally settling in Scotland in 1976.

I started out as a writer, with two books published (on psychological astrology, which I also practise), as well as occasional poetry. For thirteen years I ran a smallholding in Aberdeenshire, and then worked for several years as a hands-on garden designer. So I came to painting a bit later in life, and I'm self-taught - as much by design as default: I just love experimenting and discovering my own techniques. Painting to me is a challenge, a journey, and each work seems to proceed along its own path, often taking me by surprise.


I have been painting in South Aberdeenshire since 2001, inspired by the local land- and seascape: the view of big skies and changeable seas from the cliffs of coastal Kinneff, where I live, or the deep red earth of the Mearns.
In my paintings I try to capture both stillness and motion (often linked with the emotion evoked) – and maybe these are not so much opposites as two sides of the same coin, seeking the core of the subject. I also produce vibrant abstracts and most recently I have been experimenting with stark bl/wh, rather minimalist, painting.


A lot of my work is done in acrylic on board, rather than on canvas, calling for a different kind of technique. I have developed a method of mounting board on an integral frame and the finished product looks like a box canvas, with painted sides, ready to hang - or to frame, if you wish. You will find my paintings work especially well in larger/modern rooms, with a bit of distance and space."


To see more of Angela's work on Affordable British Art, click HERE

Artist of the Week - Jeannie Zelos

 This week we have Jeannie Zelos as our Artist of the Week.

Crimson Sunset by Jeannie Zelos

Jeannie was born and still lives in North Norfolk surrounded by beautiful scenery full of traditional woodlands, vast beaches and huge skies. 

Jeannie says:

"I've been painting for a number of years now and extending my repertoire of materials as time progresses and I delve further into the world of art.I describe my style as naive, and myself as a Colourist. My work has very vibrant colour ranges, often not what you would expect but it works!

Art can be a solitary pursuit and since 2006 I've been running a free arts forum for artists and people interested in art, just type my name and forum into google and you'll find it. I've learned so much from other artists there, and hopefully we have all benefited from contact with others.
I paint in a variety of mediums from watercolours through to encaustic, a method used over 2,000 years ago. For me art is a journey and by not restricting myself to one media I have the freedom to take my art to a range of possibilities. Over the last few years I have extended my experience via personal study and professional tuition and now use watercolours, soft pastels, oil pastels, acrylics, oils, and latest is the encaustic (beeswax) paints. I'm currently using the encaustics most of the while, seeking to reach the very essence of the subject through pure abstraction, and find that the beeswax - maybe because its such an organic material- works really well for this."

Click HERE to see more of Jeannie's artwork on Affordable British Art