By 1975 she had amassed numerous paintings that covered the walls of their boarding house. A friend took away a dozen or so and, to Beryl's surprise, managed to sell them all for around £10 each. Beryl was delighted and quickly increased her production. Her success came to the attention of Bernard Samuels at the Plymouth Arts Centre who persuaded her to mount her first exhibition featuring 75 paintings. It was a sell out. The rest, as they say, is history.

I get inspiration when I least expect it, normally when I’m relaxing and not consciously thinking about painting. I wonder how I’d capture on canvas the way the light’s falling on my son’s hair or which techniques I’d use to recreate the decaying plasterwork on a disused shop front.

I generally have a clear vision of what’s going on the canvas and my preparation involves collating reference material relating to the theme of the painting and some very rough preliminary drawings, although sometimes I sketch straight on to the canvas and allow the piece to develop of its own accord.

I was born in 1974 with a pencil in my hand, much to the discomfort of my mum! I spent my early life in the Black Country, after training in graphic design I entered the world of the games industry, it was fun and an ideal job, my days were spent creating characters and new worlds, then one day it stopped being fun and I decided to branch out and pursue other things, I realised that having some bloke behind me asking to make something “a bit more blue” was not for me, it was time for new challenges, a fresh start. So I picked up a paintbrush.

In 2004 Gary got his big break and was a finalist in the DeMontfort New Artist competition. His prize was a publishing contract with DeMontfort, the UK’s leading international art publisher. To his delight he was now able to make his dream a reality, and he now describes himself as “highly privileged”!

It is true to say that Helen's popularity stems from a distinctive combination of simple, yet familiar images, a dash of gentle humour and wonderful rich textured colours. Some of the inspiration for her work comes from a fascination with the history of textile design especially that of the Elizabethan era. The torn edges of each painting hints at it being part of a much larger piece giving the viewer an added sense of mystery.

Entirely self-taught, Joan has found much fame in her short career. Joan`s works are collected worldwide including the USA, Hong Kong & Singapore. Joan cuts through pretentions to embrace the humour of everyday life. Her slightly caricatured larger, than life images have a human touch that brings a smile to the face of the viewer. Perhaps her love of meeting & chatting to the passer-by, explains her gift for catching the right expression, for capturing the perfect moment.

Humour is a big part of Linda`s work. She works with designer gouache, in a pointillist style, making a detail drawing first, then meticulously putting on dots of paint to slowly build up the colour so that it has from and texture. Her colours are usually deep and rich. Her limited edition prints have become immensely popular on both sides of the Atlantic and extremely collectable- some of her earlier prints, such as "The Wedding Breakfast", are highly sought after and eagerly snapped up by collectors.

Different images and scenic views I encounter whilst travelling on my narrow boat offer me ample inspiration for new works. I already have lots of ideas for future paintings, which would take me years to paint and yet almost every day I get more ideas, not only from what I see around me, but sometimes whilst I’m involved with a painting I think of ways of how I might change it, or improve it. I have been known to paint the same painting several times over in an attempt to better it. Even though I have thousands of photographs that I have taken over the years for future reference, I have a need to take more. Ideas and images compete for priority.

More recently I've felt that I've had the time to experiment with a more contemporary approach to my work, with greater emphasis on the animals than landscape. Giving images a more humerous feel. I'm still working in detail but I'm playing around with perspective and size.

I keep lists that I constantly update and I’m always planning and reviewing my painting programme. This is a vital part of the process. I try to avoid having to work to deadlines as this has a tendency to kill my enthusiasm for the piece; I hate working under pressure. I like to have the flexibility to choose what I want to paint, when I want to paint it. For this reason I no longer take commissions

Hutch as he is now known creates charming images that present a range of engaging characters in intriguing situations that capture the viewers imagination. His unique use of colour and shape provide a contemporary backdrop illustrating his distinctive style.

Her influences include the wonderful and amusing drawings of Thomas Rowlanson and many other important artists.
"I love humour and draw a lot of inspiration from funny books, films and television."
Her aim is most definitely not to ridicule but promote the idea of a society that likes itself and where her people, the ladies especially are confident positive characters, comfortable with their bodies.

Sarah is very serious about her work, but most of all she wants to make people smile.

Tim’s overwhelming rise in popularity was reflected when he scooped the Fine Art Trade Guild’s Best Selling Original Print Artist award in May 2001. "I am fascinated by the incredible diversity of life… and am constantly inspired by the fact that it always seems a whisker away from farce.”

On leaving university, Vicky accepted her first professional commission for Children’s television to illustrate a BAFTA award winning series ‘Ripley and Scuff”. From here she went on to work as a house illustrator for a prestigious company in London where she stayed for just over a year before returning to her West Country roots and settling in Bath. Since 2003 Vicky has been working as a freelance illustrator enjoying an exciting and varied range of commissions for clients both in the UK and in the United States.