25 x 35 cm | 9 x 13 in
Subject: Landscapes & Nature
Tags:
Shadow,
Hopeful
Original painting in oil on canvas.
"This is a portrait of an emerging artist, who loves the mountains. There's something poetic about horizon gazing. But, for me, the ultimate poetry lies in watching a person gaze at the horizon. Their face empties and they just become. Here, Ellis has forgotten herself and is taken away by the mountainous distance. Although you can't see her face, you can feel it in her body, as she is drawn towards the yellow sky. Her shadow almost becomes an angel and the colours are a playful take on 'landscape painting'."
Nicola Wiltshire’s paintings hum with a quiet, luminous presence. Working with oil paint and charcoal on patterned fabrics - from Toile de Jouy to William Morris-inspired prints, she builds images that feel both grounded and enchanted, domestic and dreamlike.
Every surface is alive: colour fields pulse against heavy linework; plants, flowers, interiors, and glimpsed landscapes emerge with a handmade clarity that holds both tenderness and strength. Her subjects are simple - a vase, a garden, a hillside seen from a train - but they carry something larger: a reverence for the everyday, a trust in the beauty of close observation.
Wiltshire’s commitment to her materials runs deep. She hand-makes many of her oil paints and is now beginning to craft her own pastels - extending the intimacy of her process into every layer of the work. Her paintings are collected widely, often held in multiples, drawn by the same quality that moves through every piece: the transformation of ordinary life into something quietly extraordinary.
Read: A Day in the Studio of Nicola Wiltshire
Read more about Nicola's studio practice.
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