Trisha Hardwick

Trisha was born in the North East in 1949 and from an early age, drawing and colouring became a favourite pastime and most successful subject in school. This was, at that time regarded as a leisure pursuit.

However, her parents seemed to know that she would eventually do something artistic or classical - as was the case with a lot of small girls, she attended ballet classes in the junior school years, and was later sent to piano lessons, which proved not to be her 'forte'.

As she was a highly regarded member of both school and church choirs, her parents were delighted to have her accepted for voice training, something at which she excelled and thoroughly enjoyed. It was hoped that, with luck, she would one day sing at Covent Garden Opera. It was not to be - the music revolution of the sixties, and all that went with it, plus the meeting of her future husband distracted her from opera & classical music.

A brief and disillusioning encounter with Art College led to a clerical career that progressed to the position of company buyer for industrial equipment. It was just before Christmas 1984, shopping for gifts to give to her two sons, that she saw a starter set of paints and was given them as a gift from her parents. Painting, from that Christmas Day, became addictive and by the end of 1985 those early efforts resulted in colleagues ordering small paintings as Christmas gifts for the princely sum of £10. At this point, she would never have imagined where this would eventually lead.

Now married for 34 years with two grown up sons, it was her husband who, in 1989 persuaded her to give up regular paid employment to develop and put to good use her painting skills - quite a risk at the time, but one which has never been regretted, as each succeeding year has seen steady progress.

During this time, she has explored many different mediums, materials and subject matter. In the beginning it was almost like the children's story 'The Elves and the Shoemaker' - selling a painting would provide the materials to paint and frame two more and so on. Friends arranged a solo exhibition which was a great success.

Albeit terrified and apprehensive, she began to exhibit with The British Society of Painters at their Ilkley exhibitions in West Yorkshire quickly becoming a sought after artist at their various shows. She was accepted by a licensing agent within 6 months and for many years produced a varied range of work for greetings cards, prints, collector’s plates etc., all of which sold extremely well, and her style became easily recognizable.

It became apparent that her use of colour and light were the true strength in her still life paintings & early in 1998 began to develop the now familiar, more simplified compositions that have led to such successes as having work accepted for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and various prestigious galleries throughout the UK, USA and Europe.

Her first major solo exhibition was at Reubens Gallery, Leeds in the Autumn of 2000, and was a tremendous experience and she was overwhelmed by the response to the show, with some visitors vowing to be outside the door for the opening of the next exhibition!

She was made a resident artist of the gallery and a second show arranged for October/November 2001. This was an even greater success than the first, people did indeed arrive early to the preview, where over half of the paintings on show were sold within a few hours, and by the end of the exhibition almost all of the paintings had been sold.

Work is mainly produced in oils on canvas, board and heavy quality paper. On occasion, mixed media such as inks, pastel and gouache have been used. Subject matter is usually still life incorporating fruit, china and flowers. Size of work is normally from 9"x7" up to approximately 26"x20". In many cases, the traditional style of still life painting is brought into present day focus by the use of modern colour combinations and subject matter.

Some paintings represent a particular memorable day or place; some are directed at producing a specific effect on the viewer, such as uplifting or happy, cheerful or serene. The number of paintings produced each year is not huge - around 50-60 maximum. Demand, which has been growing steadily over the past two years, is currently exceeding the amount of work available, and commissions can rarely be undertaken.

The work has appeal to a wide audience, as depending on the approach to each new piece, together with the frame; it can sit quite comfortably in both modern and traditional settings. Colour and light play a large part in producing these paintings, which are proving very popular, with many clients making numerous, repeat purchases.

Exhibition organisers, publishers and the guest celebrities who open exhibitions have often purchased work.

The studio is at home in what would have been the dining room. The light is perfect, having French doors, which look out onto the garden.

Her introduction to classical music at an early age has not been wasted - it's not unusual to find Trisha still painting until well after midnight, listening to classical music, which she finds an ideal partner to painting.