This Week's Window - Jonathan Shaw

Jonathan was born in Leeds in 1959. As a child he always loved to paint and stood in awe of his father, a professional artist. He always felt he was destined to follow in his father’s footsteps, but after leaving school found himself working in a variety of jobs, and finally finding a creative position as an interior designer.

He knew that this was not the life for him however, and eventually resigned from his job to go travelling, financing his journey with money raised from selling his work along the way. The realisation that he was able to sell his work so easily filled Jonathan with confidence and resolve, and he returned home to Yorkshire to open a gallery. Surrounded by artwork that he admired and seeing the positive response of his customers encouraged him to paint some of his best ever work. After six years in the gallery, Jonathan felt it was time to move on and took the bold step of dedicating himself full-time to painting.

His new found confidence led him to abandon his methodical style in favour of more spontaneous “free” painting onto canvas and board. He found this new approach to be stimulating and exciting, and has never looked back.

In 1999, Jonathan was elected a Fellow of the British Society of Painters and the International Guild of Artists, and in 2003 he was shortlisted for the Fine Art Trade Guild award for Best Up and Coming Artist. His work is held in private collections and galleries throughout the UK, Europe and the USA, and his celebrity collectors include Dawn French and Lenny Henry.

Why not view other Jonathan Shaw artwork on www.creativeartgallery.co.uk/shaw.html

This Week's Window - Cyril Croucher

Cyril was born in 1951 and grew up in Shoeburyness, a small village in the East of England. He graduated from Southend-on-Sea Art College in the swinging sixties and set out to establish himself as a professional artist. Dissatisfied with the work he was producing and following the death of his father, Cyril stopped painting and, as he puts it, “rejoined the real world and got a proper job”. For the next twenty years he worked in various trades, from boat building to gardening, and finally settled into a successful career as a property surveyor.

It was only when he moved to Cornwall with his family that he started to paint again - unable to help himself in the face of so much inspirational material! It was the houses and boats in their quaint harbour settings that interested him most, and thus his present style was born and began to evolve.

Together with his wife he bought and extended the Millpool Gallery which is in Mousehole, a beautiful unspoiled fishing village in the far west of the county, and began to exhibit his new work. From then he has not looked back; his work has grown in popularity at an amazing rate, and he has held numerous successful exhibitions across the South West of England. When asked what he gets out of painting Cyril replies, “happiness.”

Order Your Copy of "Man behind the Smile" Today!

The book every Doug Hyde collector has been waiting for will be available at the Gallery in December.

Each book will include the complimentary new print "Sleep tight".

To pre order your copy at £89 please email the gallery at info@creativeartgallery.co.uk

Why not view other Doug Hyde artwork on www.creativeartgallery.co.uk/hyde.html

This Week's Window - Malcolm Teasdale

Malcolm's roots are firmly planted in the North East of England, an area whose character and landscape has been defined by its industrial history. His forefathers were lead miners working the seams on bleak Alston Moor, and successive generations coal mined in Tynedale and close to Newcastle.

Malcolm himself was born in the Elswick district of Newcastle in 1944, and lived and worked for much of his life near to the city. For the past twenty years he has lived in a market town in Northumberland. Malcolm’s passion for painting has always been an integral part of his life. In his early career as a teacher his interest in art took up much of his spare time, and in more recent years he has occupied three galleries in the North East and has devoted more and more time to his painting. He holds regular solo exhibitions all over the UK, and one such exhibition, 'A Glimpse of the Great North', was televised by the BBC.

Much of Malcolm’s work has arisen from the industrial history of his local area. His love of these locations and his genuine admiration for the scenes and characters he recreates comes across in the strong sense of community and camaraderie that defines all of his highly evocative work. It is the honesty of his approach that sets his work apart from his contemporaries however; he has an extraordinary ability to convey the reality of everyday life and the atmosphere of each scene, rather than simply to recreate the literal image.

“For me my personal identity has always been linked with a sense of social togetherness which was so much a part of my own childhood, and it is this sense of loyalty and shared experience that I aim to capture in my paintings.”

Elements - Phillip Gray

Elements is the first collection of limited edition seascapes from Phillip Gray, internationally acclained Irish artist, powerfully combining realistic detail and dramatic interpretation.

Rush Hour - David Farren

"Rush Hour" the new collection by David Farren comprising of 7 limited editions including hand embellished canvas images has just been released. Farren's pieces explore the urban world with originality, style and panache - just like the cities they portray.

Smile Collection - Doug Hyde

Doug Hyde's Smile Collection has been extremely popular and many of his pieces were sold out from the publisher prior to launch. We still have one of each of the following (sold out) pieces available for those frantically searching the web to get hold of a copy.

Other galleries appear to be offering for sale the Smile collection for inflated prices, however Creative Art Gallery will follow the recommended retail prices.

"Any Room for Me?" (export edition) £491.00 framed

"That Friday Feeling" £395.00 framed

"Beauty Sleep" £536.00 framed

To check current availability and order on line, please follow this link ...

This Week's Window - Heather McAlpine

Heather McAlpine was born in Scotland 1962 she moved to London to study where she received a BA in Fine Art (1st class Hons) from the University of East London and an MA in painting from the RCA.

She has exhibited widely in the UK including the RCA Summer Show.

Emigrating to Vancouver in 1999 she continues to be inspired by the natural world. "The West Coast forests and sea have provided inspiration for my recent paintings; armed with my camera and macro lens I collect images of seaweed, leaves and lichen, this provides the ‘raw materials’ the starting points for back in the studio." The actual material of paint and the painterly marks serve as metaphors for energy, movement and growth. Rich texture is achieved by building up layers of color, suggesting time and evolution, during the process the images become pared down leaving elemental marks.

"My ultimate aim is to explore the relationships between abstraction, color and the vitality of the natural world."