Alison Orchard

Alison Orchard is an artist inspired by nature and passionate about painting. She first attended St. Ives School of Art as a teenager in 1986 and at the age of 18 won the Scott, Brownrigg & Turner Award for Art, which she used to travel and paint across Europe. She studied at Epsom School of Art & Design (Foundation Diploma) and Harrow College, University of Westminster (B.A. hons).
Alison enjoyed success as a commercial illustrator and designer, before launching her fine art career with a debut solo exhibition 'Arvor' at GalleryOne in 2009. In 2012, she was selected for inclusion in Who's Who in Art. In 2014 she was one of 20 international artists to be chosen for accreditation as a Golden Artist Educator.
Alison's work now has a growing following and is held in private collections. Her paintings have been shown at prominent art fairs, with exhibitions in London & South East England, Canada, Guernsey & Portugal, including at The Royal College of Art, The V&A museum & The Society of Women Artists, London.

Alison paints direct from the landscape, both at home and along the Dorset to Cornwall coastline, using these initial experiences to inspire the large gestural paintings created in her Hampshire studio. Her curiosity with layered surfaces and marks have led her to explore various media, painting with oil, acrylics or encaustic wax, often combined with metal filings, marble dust and coloured charcoal. Her paintings have a vitality that translates directly from the energy of her brushstrokes. There is a play of light built from layers of atmospheric glazed colour. The end result is her reaction to the landscape, expressing humility and wonder at the overwhelming forces of nature.

“I have been studying changing landscapes, the sketched lines on the sand, cloud movements, the tidal shift; trying to tell that story and bring that energy into my paintings.” Alison Orchard

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