Fisherton Mill - Gallery . Cafe . Studios

This solo exhibition, Angela Corben’s first for ten years, features work inspired by recent painting trips to Spain and Italy as well as pictures of local Hampshire scenery. Both groups, painted in acrylics, are linked by the artist’s keen delight in the landscape and her skill in catching its rapidly changing moods and lights. She says, ‘I like drama and the dramatic contrasts, tones and colours in the landscape.’

The majority of Corben’s English landscapes are painted outside en plein air. Corben travels the countryside by bike searching for views and stopping to paint them immediately or rushing home to finish off sketches done while out and about. This gives the work an energy and spontaneity while her vigorous brush strokes allow the viewer to almost feel the wind in their hair and the glare of the sun on their faces. The paintings are all informed by particular weather conditions, be it the high wind blowing across her scene of Upturned Boats at Stanpit, or the approaching storm clouds in the painting Whitsbury Poppies, which creates an exciting sense of immediacy and connection with the landscape.

Alongside her views of the New Forest and the South Coast, Corben is exhibiting a group of scenes painted after recent trips abroad. These larger pictures are painted in her studio and take weeks rather than hours to complete. More detailed and often featuring buildings and people, as well as the landscape, they are inspired by the light and intensity of colour of the Mediterranean with their blazing blue skies a marked contrast to the softer greys of Corben’s British skies. ‘These paintings are a new departure for me and have really woken up my colour palette’ says Corben.