Gillian Radcliffe

I moved to Derbyshire after a career as a freelance ceramic and textile sculptor and teacher, and started to paint in watercolour. I love to travel, sketch and photograph my subjects, and complete paintings in the studio, where recollection brings greater freedom of expression. Painting for me has a spiritual dimension. A degree in English Literature followed by research on William Blake, a course in arts therapy in education, an interest in Jungian psychology and shamanism, and a lifelong love of music influence the way I approach my painting.

Having previously worked in oils, I value the translucent quality of watercolour and its challenge, especially when working on a larger scale. To create an illusion of texture I sometimes use a roller over fabric or lace, and I enjoy using the brush intuitively. I consider myself privileged to live in the varied scenery of Derbyshire with its green fields and wild moorland. I am drawn to mountains and deserts in the United States where I lived for two years, South America, the Alps, the Karoo in South Africa. My seascapes have been inspired by places as far apart as Orkney, Cornwall, or the Cape. I now spend two months of the year in Gialova, an unspoiled village in the southern Peleponnese, where the sea and the lagoon with its migrating birds is one of the most inspiring places I know.

I open my studio for the Derbyshire Open Arts weekend and also during Parwich Open Gardens. My work is permanently displayed in my studio in Parwich in the Peak District National Park.