Impressions of the Turf, 2023
JESSICA HILLS
Jessica Hills is a painter living and working in Linkenholt, Hampshire. Her versatility in the oil painting medium allows her to explore a wide variety of subjects including racing and military scenes, landscapes, wildlife, botanicals and her unique ‘roomscapes’. She studied Fine Art and Art History at Goldsmiths and has since added to her studies at the London Fine Art Studios and Sarum Studio in Salisbury. Jess prepares her own wood panels, sanding and adding layers of gesso and an underpainting in burnt sienna to give a luminosity to each painting. She then works wet into wet and employs glazing so that each area of the painting holds interest as well as the overall scene. Jess has recently been commissioned by The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery to commemorate their role in the coronation of King Charles III. Coming from a family entwined with racing she is thrilled to be celebrating the Sport of Kings in ‘Impressions of the Turf ’.
MICHELLE MCCULLAGH
Riding and drawing horses came hand in hand for Michelle from an early age and are now a living obsession in her daily life. She works from her studio in Dorset where her fascination with the movement of animals is explored in her paintings of light. Michelle’s work is inspired by her life drawings:
“You can not ask an animal to stand still like you can a human being. They are continually moving, swishing, a tail, twitching an ear or scratching a leg. The energy produced in a quick life study can be very exciting. I strive to repeat this energy and movement in my oil paintings by using dramatic, contrasting colours and very few lines.”
LARA ROBINSON
"Horse racing’s magic touches so many people, it has been my focus to capture this passion, glory, and the love for the sport in my works. That natural amphitheatre at Ascot is the scene of so much excitement, so many lung busting, heart pumping moments and so many never to be forgotten races that it has been great fun trying to pick these moments, trying to render their magic in art."
Lara Robinson is a classically trained contemporary artist based between London, Wiltshire and Cornwall. Having grown up amongst the beaches of Cornwall and the rolling hills of the countryside, Lara’s training in Florence and Barcelona means her style crosses classical training with a more individual impressionism, and imbues her work with a real sense of vibrancy and life. Having put on three stellar shows in London in November 2020, September 2022, and a collaboration show with Boodles on Bond Street, as well as exhibiting in joint exhibitions at various leading galleries such as the Mall Galleries, Lara has now produced a small collection for Impressions of the Turf! This group of paintings encapsulate the love and atmosphere of the turf. Taking inspiration from moments of this sport, where life is at its most vibrant, along with racegoers enjoying the sport, her work offers an enthralling glimpse into these fleeting flashes of wonder and passion.
CLEMENTINE ST JOHN WEBSTER
Clementine is a classically trained artist, having studied in Florence and London ateliers, where she was awarded the De Laszlo prize. She specialises in horses, portraiture and landscape. Her subjects take her to a wide range of environments where she paints en plein air, from the banks of the Nile to racecourses and horse sales to windy cliff tops. Clementine captures the atmosphere, the now and the character of the subject regardless of whether it is a horse, a person, a landscape or a bustling scene. Before studying classical painting and drawing she did her Undergraduate in Biological Sciences at Oxford University - her love of natural world and her intrigue in how we see things is clear in her subjects.