Biography & Statement
Biograpy
Claire has been passionate about art and craft from an early age, exploring a wide range of disciplines from pastel pet portraits to screen printing. She holds a design degree from the Arts Institute in Bournemouth and spent several years working as a lighting designer. In addition, she completed a BTEC in silversmithing and, in 2012, founded a successful jewellery business. Her work has been showcased in collaborations with renowned galleries, including the Natural History Museum and the Royal Albert Memorial Museum. Most recently, in 2024, she was awarded the Outstanding Piece prize in the Folksy Summer Exhibition.
A chance encounter with the work of a contemporary painter while holidaying in Penzance in 2023 sparked a new creative journey. Inspired to try acrylics, Claire began painting and soon exhibited her first collection alongside her jewellery at the Craft Festival in Bovey Tracey, where her paintings nearly sold out. Encouraged by this response, she converted a room in her home into a studio and, in January 2025, committed fully to painting by enrolling in the Creative Visionary Programme, an intensive online course for artists.
Since then, Claire has been steadily developing her practice, experimenting with new techniques and beginning to find her own artistic voice. She is particularly drawn to fieldscapes, which have become a recurring focus in her work. She works from her home studio in Launceston, Cornwall.
Statement
I am drawn to the ever-changing beauty of my surrounding landscape and the way it reflects time, memory, and place. Through my semi-abstract acrylic paintings, I aim to capture the essence of familiar scenes—fields, horizons, trees, and the sea—while exploring how they transform through shifting light, weather, and season.
Sketching plays a central role in my process, helping me observe closely, simplify forms, and experiment freely. I keep several sketchbooks, often working with coloured pencils and crayons when out and about. Quick, intuitive drawings serve as reference points for future paintings, while slower sketches become a space to explore mark making and abstraction.
In the studio, I begin with saturated colour and curiosity, and no fixed outcome in mind. I use a variety of tools to create spontaneous, often surprising marks that influence the direction of the piece. At a certain point, I may return to sketches to introduce more form or detail, blending intuition with intention.
I’m particularly fascinated by the contrast between the geometric and the organic: the division of fields against a line of trees, or a cluster of barns nestled in undulating moorland. My work expresses a sense of space, freedom, and adventure—both in the landscapes themselves and in the way they’re painted.
Just as humans have altered the landscape over time, I use colour and pattern to leave my own imprint on each piece. Through many layers, I hint at the quiet stories held by the land—its history, its evolution, and its rhythms through time. The abstraction of colour calls on the viewer to pay more attention to these familiar landscapes and to appreciate the beauty of our countryside from a new perspective.
