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Philippa Beale
Born 1946
Lives and works in La Roche de Bord, France
www.philippabeale.com

Philippa Beale was born and raised in the Hampshire countryside
and knows that the view which takes our breath away and most
of what we perceive to be ‘natural’, is in fact managed for
pragmatic and profi table reasons. There are different types of
woodland, crops for fuel or sawmills or grown as wind breaks and
for hunting; all are wild-life preserves. Many who now object to
hunting would not be able to walk under the greenwood trees
without the ancient huntsman who planted them. Without land
management, the rural landscape painter would have nothing to
draw or to create from.
Living in London, Beale’s artistic concerns were mainly political
and sociological. Now living in the country, opposite a lake and
a grove of trees with a river at the bottom of her garden, she has
become a landscape painter in the tradition of English landscape
artists like Edward Arthur Wilson, Paul Nash and Samuel Palmer.
Many years ago, Beale was taught by the etcher Paul Drury who
posited that the pastoral landscape was in the blood of all English
artist’s and given the opportunity and the right views, we couldn’t
help but record it.
Autumn in the Hunting Wood started from small pen and ink
drawings, which were then scanned and coloured in Photoshop
and printed in archival ink onto canvas. The image is then over
painted in oil but not coloured in, resulting in a multi-dimensional
image preserving areas of luminosity.
Hog’s Back, Hampshire was infl uenced by the Canadian
Landscape Painters of the 19th century who, because the light
was so bright, saw and therefore used pure colour. Once in a while
in England from a high vantage point, one sees this kind of colour
and for a short while, particularly in early evening these colours
are true.
PHILIPPA BEALE studied at Winchester School of Art, University of Reading,
Goldsmith's College and was the fi rst Artist in Residence at Southampton City
Art Gallery funded by The Arts Council of Great Britain. Beale has exhibited
across the UK, Europe and the USA. Solo exhibitions include; The Angela
Flowers Gallery, Camden Arts Centre, The Akumulatory Gallery, Poland,
Southampton City Art Gallery and Les Cloîtres Gallery, Poitiers France. Blue
Bird and Other Stories, LCC Galleries, University of the Arts London.
Top left: Autumn in the Hunting Wood, 2013,
Oil on Canvas Digital Grisaille.
h: 50cm w: 40cm d: 10cm, Artist’s Collection.
Photograph Credit: Christopher Plato
Left: Hog’s Back, Hampshire, 2012, Acrylic on Canvas.
h: 150cm w: 100cm d: 10cm, Artist’s Collection.
Photograph Credit: Christopher Plato
Right: The Time of Cyclamen, 2013, Oil on Canvas.
h: 75cm w: 44cm d: 10cm, Private Collection (Madame Barbara Walsh)
Photograph Credit: Christopher Plato

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