Artist Al Saralis (South Wales)

Artist Al Saralis 

The luminous and lyrical figurative paintings of Al Saralis are composed around a solitary figure set against a backdrop which is deliberately stripped of narrative.They have a haunting beauty and an enduring, almost other-worldly fascination which, time and again, evokes a deeply personal reaction from viewers.Al’s work has been featured widely in the press since he was named as one of the top 10 British artists to invest in by leading USA art publication ‘Complex’. Most recently he was featured Creative Boom magazine for his moving and beautiful portraits.Al is currently exploring the connection between humanity and nature through his art. Inspired by a short poem from American writer Robert Frost entitled Nothing Gold Can Stay, his most recent series of works reflects this. One of the most important messages of the poem is that once we recognise how fleeting and precious life is we will appreciate it all the more and will learn to take advantage of the beauty and joy to be found in every passing moment. The theme of these works, along with the style, the composition and the execution is both classical and contemporary which is again attuned with the poet’s fascination with time and the quality of timelessness which is so elegantly evoked.Influenced by the classical beauty of Renaissance painting and intrigued by the changing representations of the human form through history, Al has studied and taught life drawing for many years, believing it to be a skill that should be constantly practiced. Working from his own photo shoots and a portfolio of photographs and sketches he has built up over many years, he creates his painterly portraits in oil using brushes and palette knives to give a highly textured, impasto impression of radiant beauty and exquisite beauty.Al was born and brought up in the industrial valleys area of South Wales, but he now lives and works in rural Hampshire. 

Artist Kerry Darlington (Welsh artist)

Artist Kerry Darlington

She was inspired by magical fairy tale picture books and stories during her childhood, and held a particular fascination for Arthur Rackham's intricate pen and ink work. This influenced her to take a degree in Illustration, with intentions of becoming a children's book Illustrator. During this period she discovered the Pre-Raphaelite artists and Art Nouveau. She found this work so hauntingly beautiful that it captivated her completely and it still has a profound effect on her own art. In the years that followed, Kerry began to build a reputation for her original, decorative designs using 3D elements and resin which became hugely popular, focusing primarily on trees and nature. Inspiration for these was taken from the Art Nouveau period, particulary Klimt’s infamous ‘Tree of Life’.

" The Ghost of Clytemnestra Awakening the Furies " , By Artist John Downman (1750 - 1824)

" The Ghost of Clytemnestra Awakening the Furies " ,  John Downman

John Downman (1750 - 1824) - Welshportrait painter, who also painted genre paintings on historical themes. " The Ghost of Clytemnestra Awakening the Furies " is one such work.

In Greek mythology, Clytemnestra was the daughter of Tyndareus and Leda the Swan, the king and queen of Sparta, according to Greek mythology. She was half-sister of Helen. King of Mycenae Agamemnon and Clytemnestra had a son named Orestes as one of their offspring. Menelaus, who wed Helen, regarded as the most beautiful lady in the world, had an older brother named Agamemnon.

Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus travelled to Troy to battle for Helen's return after she was abducted and transported there. Aegisthus, the husband's cousin, was Clytemnestra's lover when she got home, and the two of them conspired to kill Agamemnon. Clytemnestra trapped Agamemnon in a net in the bathroom when he came back, and Aegisthus murdered him with a double-edged axe.

 " The Ghost of Clytemnestra Awakening the Furies " , John Downman, 1781 Oil on canvas. Size: 51×65 cm. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven