Members Gallery
If you would like to become a member, please download and complete the attached application form – here
Julia Parker
Serra Malta
Fredrica Craig
Paul Tomlinson
Alan Learney
Jane Tomlinson
Christine Dowling
Eric White
Jane Hale
Julie Sailing Free
Chris Matthews
Rosemary Clegg
Jenny Bowden
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Julia Parker
Julia is inspired by the nature and history around us, and uses the Cyanotype process in different ways to create unique mixed media artworks and fabric designs, many using locally sourced plants. Recent works on fabric have also been inspired by traditional Japanese ‘Sashiko’ stitching, combined with Cyanotype images Instagram: @urbansquirreldesign Facebook: Urban Squirrel Design Website: www.urbansquirreldesign.co.uk -
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Serra Malta
We all have a little obsessive-compulsive disorder within us, Serra’s happens to be collecting and finding beauty in the lost and found. She’s always been intrigued by the history a found object has and the message or a mark the user/owner leaves behind. ‘I can take inspiration from anything natural or manmade, it could be finding what gets washed up on a beach or something I find on a woodland walk.’ Serra is particularly fascinated by discords and attitudes to consumables in our throwaway culture and likes to compare past, present values and expectations in relation to the useful life of objects. Lost wax casting is a process mainly used, there can be several mould making stages and Serra likes to really work with the wax, carving, filing, shaping and melting it. A connection is made with the wax before it takes its form in mental. Serra likes to think there are elements of humour and playfulness within her jewellery as discarded objects and natural forms become treasures and take on a new lease life. The imperfections and fragility evoke a sense of preciousness. No sketchbook can determine what deigns are made, it’s working directly with the materials that her passion flows. Serra likes to challenge conventional notions of value and our perceptions about materials and jewellery. By becoming obsessed with objects for example “bottle tops” or ‘broken shell fragments’ it enthuses Serra to push the boundaries and envision new possibilities. -
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Fredrica Craig
Fredrica attended Belfast College of Art and she has continued to paint and draw in an experimental manner ever since then. In the 1970’s she lived in Trinidad where she painted and exhibited with some of Trinidad’s foremost painters. Now living near Oxford she finds the beautiful countryside a constant source of inspiration. She is a member of Westoxarts and Oxford Art Society and has exhibited in galleries in London, Oxford,Burford and Woodstock. Some of her paintings are in private collections in America, Australia and the Caribbean. -
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Paul Tomlinson
I was born in Stratford upon Avon and benefitted from a childhood filled with opportunity for travel, exploration and learning. I was actively turned on to an appreciation of the natural world, history, our cultural heritage and the environment. I studied engineering at Leeds University and Penn State University and worked for more than three decades in the construction industry. My career in construction was based in Oxfordshire, where I settled with my family. Having recently retired from the consultancy business of which I was a joint owner, I have spent time teaching, undertaking voluntary work for the RSPB, learning new skills in picture framing, travelling and living abroad (Cyprus) and developing my portfolio of artwork and photographs. What inspires me I am a keen birder and I have been able to pursue my interest in avian photography during my travels in recent years to Cyprus, Argentina, Egypt and Iceland, and my time spent as a volunteer warden at the RSPB reserve at Otmoor, near Oxford. I am endlessly inspired by the work of many of the Old Masters with which we are all familiar: Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Raphael and the Impressionists. I also love the decadent brilliance of Egon Schiele, who inspires my life drawing, and I appreciate the work of Victorian travellers such as Ruskin and Lear, whose work influences the sort of urban sketching and depictions of the built environment that I am currently working on. -
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Alan Learney
I did trained and worked as an Industrial Designer. Following time spent in designing domestic appliances and being involved in the early days of office computing I worked as a freelance designer, and in a partnership, before moving back into industry. As I progressed into Design and Project Management, away from hands on designing I started drawing and sketching as a hobby. Following a display of landscape drawings for a hotel in Cumbria I received several commissions which encouraged me to develop into watercolours and eventually I took up painting in acrylics and latterly using oils again. After moving to Oxfordshire I continued my hobby and received several commissions, mainly for house "portraits". I enjoy doing conversation piece compositions as well as traditional landscapes and seascapes. -
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Jane Tomlinson
Jane Tomlinson makes vibrant paintings inspired by the wonders of the natural world and a passion for global biodiversity. She also loves to paint maps. See Jane's website: -
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Christine Dowling
I have been painting all my life, and am particularly drawn to watercolour for its immediacy and the clarity of the colour. I aim to capture something of the energy in nature shown at a point in time. All subjects are interesting to me. -
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Eric White
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Jane Hale
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Julie Sailing Free
Julie Sailing-Free is a freelance artist living in a lovely village near Oxford, on the edge of the Cotswolds. She began her long and varied career working as a Graphic Designer for an advertising company based in London, then moved back to her home town in Essex to work as a graphic artist/illustrator within advertising and publishing. After a few years she decided it was the right time to go freelance and accepted contracts from Cambridge University Press, Heinemann and Longmans. More recently employed as a PA for a large manufacturing company, managing a local art gallery and a customer service manager for an online retail company. Julie has appeared as a 'Wild-Card' artist on the very popular 'Landscape Artist of the Year' programme on the Sky Arts channel, firstly on the Gower Peninsular in Wales and the following year on Plymouth Hoe. One of the few good things about lock-down was finding the extra time to busy herself with making art and also being more experimental and trying new processes. Therefore, following the first lock-down she decided it was the right time to fulfil her lifelong dream of working full time on painting and creating art. All artwork can be purchased via etsy- www.etsy.com/uk/shop/JSailingFreeArt or directly by contacting her by email- [email protected] -
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Chris Matthews
Inspired by the nature that surrounds me. I love to create images that capture a moment in time and connect at some level with the viewer. I work mainly in oils and acrylic, but find pushing any pigment around a canvas, cathartic. I enjoy the journey with the unknown destination, that seems to be the joy of painting! -
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Rosemary Clegg
I just like drawing people. I especially enjoy life drawing and life drawing with a moving model. I trained as a computer programmer with the London Stock Exchange in 1968, so was one of the first women to ever set foot on their sacred all-male trading floor. I have worked in IT ever since. Its not exactly a relaxing environment but a few hours life drawing can do wonders for the nerves. Now as I am retired its still something I really enjoy. -
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Jenny Bowden
I have always loved experimenting with form and colour from a very young age. I paint a variety of subjects. However, my passion in art lies with depicting Architecture in its many forms – in and around Oxford. Occasionally I enjoy painting other Cities, Countries and areas of interest. My preferred media is Ink and Watercolour. I constantly experiment with Traditional and Abstract styles - using bold application of colour against the precise figurative form of buildings. -
