First Light, 2024

Claire Wiltsher   Emerging artists

The multi award winning artist Claire Wiltsher was born in Wales and studied at both Lancashire and Northumbria Universities. Claire's work has attracted critical acclaim. In 2010 the Society of Women Artists awarded Claire the 'Rosemary and Co' annual award. Also that year the Royal Society of Marine Artists selected Claire's work for exhibition at the Mall Galleries. More recently, the House of Lords Works of Art Committee selected Claire's paintings for the House's permanent collection, in 2014, she was shortlisted for the Art Gemini awards, in 2017 was Hampshire Life Artist of the Year and in 2018 won Artist and Illustrators Magazine Artist of the Year, 2019 Winner of the Russell and Chapple Canvas Prize For Outstanding Work In Oil..Her oil and mixed media canvases combine layers of paint with fragments of collage. She scratches through sections of the painting to allow colours from underneath to emerge. “I want to create evocative paintings of land and sea that show a sense of place; different weather conditions are key elements". Claire uses brushes and different size palette knives to build up layers and create depth. Paint is also flicked or carefully thrown on selected areas, evidence of this can be found all over her studio floor.