Caroline Darke

My inspiration is the landscape – where I live in West Sussex, Cornwall and so many other places I have visited. I love the changes and the layers in those landscapes wrought by the seasons, the weather and man.

I experiment with different media to create layers and textures in a painting. I continually strive the get the essence for the scene I’m remembering (or have sketched) rather than being prescriptive. I aim to create something that the onlooker/owner will enjoy and discover new things within. I started my career in IT. This took me to Canada, where I lived for 8 years. Whilst there I learnt (as a hobby) how to make stained glass lamps and windows. On returning to England I added mosaics to that hobby and loved spending time with shapes, colour and reflections. Moving to a place in West Sussex with beautiful views led to a desire to somehow record those views in my own way. I learnt to paint, sketch and collage, starting with water colour and moving on to acrylics and oils. I am an alumni of 2 years of the Porthmeor Programme at the ST Ives School of Painting. This taught me so much and reinforced my love of Cornwall. I am always awed by a landscape – whether it be rural, seascape or industrial and I love the ongoing challenge of trying to do those landscapes justice. I exhibit regularly in Sussex and Cornwall and have collectors of my work as far away as Canada, Australia and Edinburgh.