Memories of Summer - Steve Vanstone and Chris James
Tuesday 17th November to Sunday 22nd November, The Setting gallery and Plot café
Chris James
Local artists Steve Vanstone and Chris James combine their expressive oil painting techniques in this two man show. Expect vibrant colours, atmospheric scenes and playful brushwork.
Steve Vanstone
Steve started life as a photographer but moved over to oil painting in 2016. He has a studio at Three Storeys, Nailsworth and makes studio-based and plein-air oil paintings.
“Painting gives an artist the ability to observe what is there and then through a process of enhancement and simplification, make a work that conveys mood and atmosphere. I find this process of exaggeration and omission fascinating. Our surroundings can inspire us to feel many different emotions. They can remind us of a place or person close to our hearts, or something harder to define, a sense of awe perhaps at a scene larger than the sum of our own experiences. My aim as an artist is to take the viewer on a journey into some of those places and allow them to re-connect with those feelings.”
Chris James
Chris H U James (Fleeting Glimpse) currently works with ceramic, paint, ink and wood.
He is a self taught artist who creates experimental, spontaneous dynamic paintings and sketches using a wide range of mediums some applied with hand made tools.
Chris recently established the Five Valleys Artists Co-operative Gallery, Five Valleys shopping area Stroud and is the administrator for UK Plein Air artists Face Book (25K membership).
He is an advocate for living with nature and environmental action through high quality public art, seeking public spaces where art and adaptation can make a difference, examples include the conversion of a stone bus shelter into a library with an allotment mural, the creation of a small sculpture zone next to Stroud Brewery and a mural covered shed for the Cheltenham Science Festival celebrating the science of growing food 2025 (commission for Gloucester Heritage Centre winner of a national award).
@stevevanstoneart @chrishujames61