‘Cheltenham and the Cotswolds’ – Rupert Aker

6 – 12 March 2013

• I am a landscape painter, based in a studio at Painswick. I walk the local valleys and hills, gaining my inspirating from the woods, meadows and hedgerows, painting ‘en plein air’ when possible. My aim is to capture the effects of the light on the land though the medium of oil paint with palette knife. I also enjoy painting the townscapes of Cheltenham and the Cotswold villages whose mellow stone sits so pleasingly in the land that envelopes them.

• I try to find a way of expressing the wonder of nature and the landscape around me through the relatively clumsy medium of oil paint on canvas. Nothing can replace being outside and experiencing the natural world in its raw state, but if I can at least capture the essence of it, I am happy. I hope to create an emotional response through my painting – whether it be a sense of peace and calm or drama and energy: evening light and shadows; cow parsley and hogweed on a wayside verge; water and reflections; mist, evaporation and sunshine after a rain storm; the gloaming; a church spire providing a focal point in the landscape…

• My current project is to hold a regular pop-up exhibition at locations throughout the Cotswolds, showing my art in the landscape that inspired them. I often sell paintings straight off the easel – I love the idea of people buying freshly produced paintings as they might buy freshly produced vegetables.

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