Clare Alexander "Erosion" Signed, oil on linen board, 25.5cm x 35.5cm (43.5cm x 34cm framed),

Clare Alexander was born in 1959, and was brought up in Winchester where she drew and painted from an early age. She moved to London in the late 1970’s, and with her young family emigrated to Australia in 1993 where she ran an adult education centre in Fremantle. She subsequently lived in Laos, Kazakhstan, and Slovakia where the culture and colours of those countries provided a rich and varied background to her artistic vision. Returning to London in 2012 she studied at the London Fine Art Studios and gained a solid grounding in life drawing, figure painting and portraiture. She developed a keen interest in working with both charcoal and oils and has completed numerous portrait commissions. She now lives in the Isle of Wight where the sea and its ever-changing light have become a new source of inspiration, and as a result she has recently extended her practice to include landscapes, seascapes, and still lifes. Alexander has exhibited in Bratislava and in the Isle of Wight and continues to accept portrait commissions alongside her other work. ‘My preferred media are charcoal and oil, both of which offer an in-built flexibility and versatility. Charcoal is inherently ‘forgiving’: you can create a wide range of tones; you can use the paper itself as the lightest light; and it makes you focus on shape as opposed to detail. For me the natural progression is from charcoal to oil, and it is oil that allows me to move from shape to detail. I work ‘en plein air’ as well as in the studio where the slow-drying qualities of oil means I can reflect on the image, re-work where necessary, build up multiple layers, and add or subtract over a period of time until the painting is complete.’

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