Katharine is a self-taught artist, ceramicist and teacher. Her pottery and paintings are expressive, colourful and playful.

Creating the right atmosphere in which to work is essential and her studio in the Surrey Hills is testament to this.

She cites influences ranging from music, nature, poetry and theatre - especially devised.
 

Cecilia is a Peruvian-British artist who began charcoal drawing as a child before concentrating mainly on her studies, gaining an Engineering degree in Peru, and a Masters degree in information Systems in the UK.

In 2009 she met David (see later), the art bug returned, and art has become a major part of their lives.

Her favorite subject is portraiture, in pastel and more recently in water-mixable oils, and her portraits tend towards photo-realism with a twist of drama and colour, using her IT and photography skills to create colourful and dramatic compositions.

You can see more of her work at CnDArtStudio.com

On leaving school I had a place  at Corsham Court in Somerset.  Instead I went to Westfield College, University of London and achieved a Combined honours BA  in History and History of Art.

While a student I went to Camden Art Centre and did evening and holiday courses.  I damaged my hand skiing so I found it easier to draw with wax which is I why I took to batik and had several exhibitions and a stall at the Chelsea Craft Fair in 1986.  I was at West Ashling Mill in West Sussex running a small business.

By this time I had done a foundation course at the Sir John Cass Art School and also a PGCE at University of Nottingham in teaching Art at secondary level. I have taught in a comprehensive and also at Braziers Adult College.

My painting style in acrylics is expressive and impressionistic.

From the age of seven I was always creating things with my hands, be it making my own clothes, crochet accessories from left over balls of wool, sculptures out of old wire or making necklaces out of melon seeds!  My dream was to be a fashion designer and after getting married and moving to the USA I adopted the ‘CanDo’ attitude to following my dreams.   Hard work and determination took me to producing my own fashion label and an exciting career as a fashion designer in the ‘80s and being nominated for the prestigious ‘Designer of the Year Award’ in 1982! 

I am now enjoying experimenting with paint and creating art with mixed media always looking for new ways of mark making and pulling inspiration from my beautiful surroundings in leafy Surrey! I am currently enjoying pursuing fluid art which creates organic images relating to movement of water or the surrounding landscapes.  My studio is surrounded by inspiration deep in the heart of the Surrey countryside and my beautiful woodland garden.

Nigel uses mixed media, but primarily acrylic paint, in his work.

Some pictures are drawn from his imagination, but most of his landscapes originate from photographs that he has taken in specific places. He uses the photographic prints to create a collage, wherein the original landscape becomes fractured, with the colour being the main unifying factor. The resultant collage will then provide a basis for the painting that he creates.

Nicky took up painting when she erroneously threw away all her diaries she had kept since the age of 10.   Unnaturally desperate to leave some sort of record of her existence on this planet she took up painting.   After a not very satisfactory beginning with another teacher Nicky stumbled across Kim O`Neil who has opened up wide vistas of artistic opportunity.   Nicky had never before tried acrylic or oils and loves oils in particular.   The paint takes ages to dry to she can keep going back to try and make the picture better.   Surrey Contemporaries has also allowed Nicky to hang her pictures on the wall, which was another (fun) experience.   Nicky derives inspiration from everybody and everything including her fellow exhibitors but seems to keep coming back to portraits.

The artwork of Zhu Guo is uncomplicated and is the simple manifestation of what she sees. This honest approach is what makes her works appeal and why so many find it refreshing and enjoyable!

She is a person who genuinely loves the joy life and so many of her works focus on a glimpse of a beautiful landscape or an intense segment of natural architecture easily overlooked in a broader view. Her other love is still life where she seeks to capture the essence of that moment when we have that feeling of peace and joy.

Claire is an artist and maker who uses papers, fabric, felt, stitch, wire and found objects to create collage, mixed media and textile images. She has always loved painting, particularly abstracts, inspired by artists such as Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky and Sonia Delauney. More recently she has discovered a fascination for working with textiles, often combining textiles with paint to create collages.

The inspiration for her work is drawn from her travels, from the surrounding landscapes and from her early training as a geologist. Her style is textural and colourful.

Based in Surrey and currently completing a Diploma in Design and Stitched Textiles, she has exhibited in Denbies of Dorking, Ramster’s bi-annual textile art exhibition, Cranleigh Arts Centre and at App Art’s annual exhibition in Godalming.

Kaz returned to painting after a gap of about 35 years during which she was pursuing other interests such as teaching Undergraduate archaeology; photography and making jewellery. She is now thoroughly immersing herself in all aspects of mark-making, including working in pastels, pencil, oils and is currently experimenting with linocutting, printmaking and wood engraving, but her first love is acrylics in which she specialises in photorealistic still life representations of dramatically-lit fruit and vegetables. Current works for sale can be seen at her Artfinder account http://www.artfinder.com/kaz-jones.  A gallery of all works produced can be found at kazjonesart.co.uk

​Karen rediscovered her love for painting in 2012 after a 28 year actuarial career.  With the advice and encouragement of Kim O’Neil she learned to explore the flexibility of acrylics to find exciting new ways of creating images and this is now her favourite medium.   She is inspired by people, places, moods and objects that she knows well and that evoke a personal response.  She enjoys experimenting with styles and techniques to find the best way of capturing her subjects.

Working mainly in acrylics, Julie’s love of both colour and nature has a strong influence on her paintings. She particularly enjoys bringing animals and birds to life on canvas and has a reputation for very lifelike pet portraits.  However, her main love is painting multi-coloured animals, particularly emus, llamas, zebras and highland cows, which are all very popular.  She regularly exhibits with AppArt at their Easter Exhibition at Priorsfield School in Godalming, at the Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking and with Guildford Art Society at their Spring and Autumn Exhibitions. Julie is happy to take a limited number of commissions each year (pet portraits in particular).  For further information, and to see more of her paintings, please visit her website:  www.juliematthewsartist.co.uk

​Taking up art in 2009 using oils and recently moving on to acrylics.  His earlier work was more traditional however feels a new freedom with contemporary art. Experimentation in all types of mediums and styles make his work varied with something new being tried in each project. He likes to build up a painting and later remove some of the paint in areas to give the work various depths to the end result. As well as mixed media Steven will mix paint techniques using paint brush, pallet knife, J cloth and air brushing within his composition. He doesn’t see himself with a particular style of painting as every piece brings something different to the forefront. Steven hopes to develop his techniques in the future as well as being open to new ideas.

Rachel has always enjoyed art and gained an A’level in sculpture whilst at school.

She then trained to teach physical education and this along with marriage and raising a family kept her busy for many years. However, in the last five or six years Rachel has taken up painting, a skill which was relatively new to her, but she has loved the challenge. She draws inspiration from people and nature likes to create abstract and figurative work, mostly in acrylics.

In recent years Rachel has returned to her love of sculpture working in clay and casting in cold cast bronze.

Mary is a Londoner, who now lives in Godalming.  She has also lived in Venezuela and Spain, where she worked at the British Embassy, before marrying and having 2 daughters.

After retiring she continued with her interest in photography.  Her photographs have appeared in books, magazines, cards and calendars, but she now prefers to devote her time to painting in acrylics.

She is influenced by nature and enjoys painting flowers, landscapes, animals and seascapes, but she also enjoys experimenting with different contemporary styles.  She likes the flexibility of acrylics and often uses various types of mediums in her work. 

David started painting shortly before retirement at the suggestion of his then partner Cecilia, since which time they married, moved to Fleet and painting has become a major part of their lives.

David paints in acrylic, watercolour and oil and his subjects are mainly portraiture, landscapes, flowers and still life rather than abstract or modern subjects. His work tends to be bold, bright and precise, (perhaps revealing his accounting background), and his intention in the coming year is to move to a more spontaneous style - time will tell!

You can see more of his work at CnDArtStudio.com​

Lynne has always loved being creative whether drawing, painting, photography or writing poetry.   From childhood, she was particularly keen on drawing animals and as an adult continued this passion using soft pastels, completing various commissions. In 1989, Lynne won the Britain’s Painters ‘89 Animal Award held at The Mall Galleries, London. Lynne has enjoyed experimenting in life, portrait and landscape classes using watercolour, acrylics, mixed media, printing and sculpture. Recently, she has developed her love of acrylics using different textures, surfaces and tools. Lynne is inspired by the abstract landscapes of Kurt Jackson and is looking forward to experimenting further with her own wild landscapes. However, nature and wildlife will always be her biggest inspiration so she will continue to create and develop beautiful, thought-provoking wildlife artwork, some of which will be sold in aid of wildlife charities. Lynne is happy to undertake commissions.

​Diana has always had a passion for painting and History of Art.  Her first job was with the Arts Council of Great Britain but after she left London she retrained as a teacher of English as a Foreign Language. She attended many different art classes and has always painted in her spare time.  She mostly works in oil and watercolour, although does some animal portraits in pastel.  She particularly enjoys painting people and landscapes and her extended family are frequent subjects.