SHEILA FRANKLAND ARTIST

A blanket against the hills. Acrylic and pencil on paper

I paint in response to the landscape of Essex and Suffolk, inspired by the wide-open spaces of the countryside and the coast. I walk and sail, take photographs and absorb the atmosphere of an area enabling me to express these sensations in paint. I do not aim for representation but for the sense of a place, its mood and essence combining what I see with my imagination.

Waterfall. Acrylic on plywood panel 30 x 30 cm

I began my creative journey as a textile artist completing a City and Guilds Level 3 Certificate in Creative Textile Design & Embroidery and exhibiting with Night & Day Textiles for several years. After experimenting with paint and dye on fabric I moved exclusively into painting with a preference for acrylics and mixed media.

My work has been selected for the 58th Essex Open 2018 in the Beecroft Gallery, Southend and the Connection Open 2018, Wells Maltings Trust, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk. I have also exhibited in a joint exhibition with Colchester Art Society and The Minories Galleries, Colchester 2018.

I belong to Traces, a small exhibiting art group. Recent exhibitions with them include “Land, Sea & Sky”, The Garage Gallery, Aldeburgh 2020; Traces at The Aldeburgh Gallery, Aldeburgh 2019 and Traces at The Quay Gallery, Snape Maltings, Snape 2017.