The Art of Irene Colquhoun

Above, Frank pictured with Irene beside her photo art image of Stonehenge which hangs in the lobby of the Holiday Inn at Solstice Park, Amesbury.

“Chasing Lines” – by Irene Colquhoun

It was my Mother who first introduced me to matchstick-men as a small child, igniting my interest in art. I remember her’s stood proudly on lined paper whilst mine ran wildly over just about every magazine going.

As a forces child with my mother from the Netherlands and an English Father my world was centred around European posting with an occasional one in England - leaving my Education quite disrupted

On my return to the UK later in life I took a series of part time courses at Salisbury College whilst working to catch up with my education, however it wasn’t until I reached the age of 40 that I re-claimed my interest in Art and began studying Fine Art. These were great years - a class packed with over 40 year old women - it was certainly interesting – we even posed for a Calendar “College Art Girls” with myself as Miss February and posing as Christine Keelar – it was all very tongue in cheek and raised quite a bit for Cancer Research UK.

At this stage I had began holding regular Exhibitions. It wasn’t until I was in my final year of studying however that I was invited to exhibit in London at Waterloo Gallery after selling “Crossing the Line” a large artwork of a nude woman behind a cross of Leather at Waterloo Gallery. Following on from this I exhibited “Karin’s Race” at the Mall Galleries based on a woman’s race against her cancer.

In 2006 my Father sadly passed away leaving me quite empty - I became aware of the need to share my knowledge and co-founded an Art Group of multi skilled artists with the aim of forming a self-contained group of artists named AVA (Amesbury Visual Artists), who are still running today as a project team, with commissions such as the painting of a Fibre Glass Donkey for Weston Super Mare’s Arts Festival “Donkey Parade” (who we called “Puzzled Brian”), followed by the restoration, re-designing and painting of 3 Fibre Glass Jazz contemporary chairs amongst many other smaller projects.

Also a Grant funded project such as “Spirit of Amesbury” which was a local community project involving over 100 members of the public, “Stonehenge” a 14 piece canvas artwork sold in aid of Naomi House Charity, “The History” a historical take of Amesbury and am presently working with “Amesbury 2012 and Beyond” steering group to re-connect our heritage with the public, including Stonehenge and the Stonehenge Druids.

At the end of 2010 I completed a series of work “Chasing Lines” based on SPORT which was very much influenced by the forthcoming 2012 Olympics. As a keen photographer I spent many hours photographing energetic, fit sport enthusiasts in order to come up with a design with best befitted speed and movement – the work will be exhibited next year in Wiltshire.

I was once asked where my favourite place to visit would be, that would have to be Stonehenge. Since moving to Wiltshire I feel a spiritual pull to the land around me and that my life to date has been an artistic journey involving those around me - Wiltshire is a very special place to visit and to live.

If you are interested in finding out any more about my work please visit:

www.irenecolquhounartist.co.uk

or www.amesburyvisualartists.webeden.co.uk

Please note that all of the pictures reproduced on this page are copyright to Irene and may not be copied or reproduced without her consent.

Irene’s stunning photo of the iconic ‘Ancestor’ , a statue made by Andy and Michelle (AR MetalCraft) also of Amesbury, the only piece of contemporary landscape art ever to be taken to Stonehenge at the invitation of the Druids.

A touch of Wiltshire

Bluestonehenge

Cyclists

Ice Maidens