Surrey Homes | SH43 | May 2018 | Restoration & New Build supplement inside

Myles Oxenford, Arrangement with Anemones £2250
Sue Thomas
Gallery Director at McAllister Thomas
Are any particular still life themes popular at the moment?
Natural florals tend to be more popular than man-made
objects. People who love flowers are often drawn to them,
especially this time of year, but it does tend to go with seasons.
Are there any particular artists at your gallery which focus
on this genre?
Emma Haggas paints what she calls her ‘happy flowers’, very
loose still lifes with lots of vibrant bright colours. We have a
beautiful piece by her at the moment called Fresh Flowers.
Then there’s Miles Oxenford, a very interesting artist. He
used to do a lot of landscapes, but his wife does all the flowers
for Rick Stein restaurants, and after sharing a studio with
her he got to appreciate the beauty of flowers and now uses
them in his still lifes. He is more classical and uses a stunning
palette of pastel tones.
Antonio Bellotti often uses vases as subject matter. What’s
really interesting is that when he does his paintings he finds a
vintage frame to go with them, so you get it as a whole object.
He will not split them apart.
Linda Felcey is different again as she works on aluminium,
but is still quite classical and she tends to put branches in a
bowl with some butterflies or something on the side.
All our artists are individual in style. It’s very important for
us to have a lot of variety to offer our customers, different
styles, palettes and skills. Some art is almost stereotypical,
but our artists are all very distinctive and you always get
something truly original.
What is the best way to go about choosing a piece of art?
I think buying art online is very difficult. It’s good to look
there first to get the feel of what you like, but you get a light
on screen which gives you an almost false image which will
never be the same as looking at it in real life. If you have a
particular artist that you love then you may wish to look at
where you can get their work and go from there, or likewise
if there is a colour palette you like then you can look this up
online before visiting a gallery.
What makes still life different from other genres?
Most artists will set up an arrangement and work in the
studio, so they have a lot of control over the composition of
the subject matter. They are also very versatile, you can hang
Emma Haggas, Happy Flowers £2850
Linda Felcy, Summer Brood £1800
a still life anywhere, whereas if you buy a landscape it’s very
much tied to a specific place.
McAllister Thomas Fine Art, 117 High Street, Godalming,
Surrey GU7 1AQ 01483 860591
mcallisterthomasfineart.co.uk
85 surrey-homes.co.uk