Artist Bio

I am currently self employed MD of Grace Engel Arts .I have been creating art and exhibiting since 1990 and I received a BA (hons) in Fine Art at University of West Of England in Bristol in 1996. 

 In my artistic practice I run a portrait business I accept portrait commissions and can work from life or photos- I also accept mural commissions: I have painted community and private murals in the past. I paint semi abstract, sometimes figurative dreamscapes in my own practice which I currently sell as originals and limited edition prints. 

I  Teach Painting and drawing for beginners and improvers, I have experience teaching all ages, small children and adults,I recieved my city and guilds qualification, Further and Adult Education Teaching Certificate in 2007. 

  My Inspiration:  The life interests that inform my work arise from  my being in the country for all it's organic forms and textures within nature and elements experienced through the body, then from the city for all it's intense human interaction as well as the textures and accidental patterns found in the roughness and decay of walls and old bill board postings: the happy accidents within the physical layering mirror to me the layering of individual histories and journeys: aspects of  human stories, my own and others I have been touched by . In my portrait work I open to something special in each person I paint or draw and try to convey  the character behind the visual image as much as I can.   I  continue to  explore how situations, environments, belief systems and the elements influence human nature and my interests translate in my current choice of subject , with the emphasis often on the poetry and symbolism of human interaction with each other and the environment.   

   I am joyfully playing along with illusion by making an appealing image, but hopefully with some powerful resonance that goes beyond the superficial. Much of my work is coming from a very early enjoyment of art when I was a small child which I was very lucky to have encouraged and never have snuffed out.   I am beginning always and ever learning. The space from which my creations occur is closely linked to work that I have done around awareness and the body, accessing  a point of stillness even if seemingly in chaos the  calm eye of the storm is always at hand.   

My heartfelt wish is to share this , what it feels like and how to enable the artistic channel in my students,as well as the connection that i achieve with the subjects of my portrait with skills , tools and technique, providing the background to the important work which is to find a voice that has a vibrant and authentic presence.