Vanessa Gardiner - Peninsula

About

 “Peninsula” is a selection of dramatic landscapes made up of highly structured, slate cliffs and tidal inlets. “…In Attica the clear, sharp light in spring enhances the purity of the lines, at the same time revealing the lyric contours of its pale grey hills. The sea often an intense cobalt blue, which at times appears to float as a solid band of dense colour across and between the headlands.”

With angular lines, each section alone is vibrate and engaging, altogether the paintings form beautiful landscapes of extraordinary scenic coastlines. Vanessa’s distinctive style is attained by re-drawing the image, scouring and sanding back the acrylic paint until the surface becomes abraded and enlivened, revealing qualities of its own.

“….The darkly weathered and slatey Cornish cliffs with their deep turquoise inlets, as found at Boscastle and Godrevy Point, result in a more monumental grandeur. They feature the high panoramas from which I draw, looking simultaneously down onto rocks and the sea, then across to take in distant landforms.

Both places have a compelling beauty and richness; both are peninsulas, separate yet remaining part of the mainland.”

Vanessa has received numerous awards & residences including: Arts Council South West – Fine Art Award & British School at Athens, Greece – Prince of Wales Bursary for the Arts. She has also exhibited extensively in many solo exhibitions in both England and Greece. Vanessa’s work can be seen in many Private, Public and Corporate Collections