Warwickshire Open Studios 2019

We are delighted to be hosting an exhibition in the East Lodge Gallery of four of our members’ work during the 2019 Warwickshire Open Studios summer event. Kevin Alexander, Jenny Chan, Lynne Gougeon and Virginia Murphy will be sharing their paintings, ceramics, glass painting, felting and photography with us.

Lynne Gougeon biography

My love of art started as soon as I worked out how to hold a crayon. My first mural followed shortly after this, on my parents’ freshly decorated hall wall.

Both my mother and grandfather were amateur artists and they inspired and guided me through my early years, letting me use their ‘proper’ paints and brushes. I went on to study art at A-Level, then a Foundation Diploma at Bourneville Art School, before completing a Visual Communication Degree. I worked in advertising as an Art Director for over 12 years but continued to paint throughout.

Happily I’m now doing art full time and have called my business ‘This Is My Art And Soul’. Part of my soul goes into every piece I produce and equally the process of painting feeds my soul. It’s a positive cycle.

I work mainly in acrylic and pastel but also mixed media, watercolour, pencil and photography. With a diverse range of subjects from land and seascapes to abstracts, animals and murals. I am hugely inspired by nature. Big skies and wide open spaces. The drama of contrasts, shapes and bold colours fill my paintings. And finding the abstract in the every day fascinates me, perhaps a slice through a tomato or a close up of a rock, I see inspiration all over the place.

I am also passionate about the benefits of art for children and enjoy teaching art classes in several Leamington Primary Schools and running an art club. Working on a variety of projects, from one to one therapeutic art, to public exhibitions of the pupils’ work.

Virginia Murphy biography

I started painting about 26 years ago when I lived in Scotland. Since then I have developed my technique using various media and experimenting with texture and colour to create a unique style.  As all creative people develop their own style, mine evolved from small watercolours to large acrylic and oil paintings expressing my love of colour and nature in bold compositions on canvas. 

About 4 years ago I attended several courses in felt making and creative design.  So now, as well as painting, I create very individual and striking machine embroidered pictures, using handmade felt and beautiful materials.  These pictures are an ongoing process, changing and developing along the way, depending on how different shapes and threads change the presentation of the picture. I also machine onto photographs and also hand print materials and designs.

I will be demonstrating needle felting and glass painting on Saturdays and Sundays during Open Studios.

Jenny Chan biography

Jenny is a Warwick based ceramicist who creates hand built one-of-a-kind decorative sculptural pieces. ‘DIVAS’ is an ongoing range of figurative sculptures and wall masks, it is Jenny’s exploration of who we are as individuals. Hairstyle and fashion plays a vital role in enabling individuals to express their cultural and social identities, an instantaneous mode of direct, visual communication.

Kevin Alexander biography

I am an artist / designer based in Kenilworth, mixing my time between design and painting. I have always drawn and painted, both as part of my design work and as an artist. In the past I have generally always painted in watercolour, but in the last 3 years I have discovered the wonder of acrylics.

I interpret landscapes and seascapes that I have visited during my travels around the UK in a ‘semi abstract’ style with emphasis on capturing a mood by the use of the colour and texture. My media of choice is acrylics on paper, using a mixture of palette knife and brush to apply the paint with added pen work during the painting process to provide additional detail. My aim is to capture the atmosphere of the subject, rather than a photographic representation.