Opening their 2025 schedule of exhibitions, The Sanctuary Studio and Gallery present Celtic Memories, a showcase of paintings and ceramics by artists who draw inspiration from the dramatic Celtic landscapes of the British Isles, from the Isles of Scilly to Eire, Wales and the North West of Scotland.

Sharon Harvey’s paintings are inspired by the broad and beautiful landscape of the Severn Estuary, where river and sky reflect each other against the curving topography of low-lying hills. The wild Welsh coastline, Scotland’s remote Outer Hebrides and the Cornish peninsula are further inspiration for her sweeping, large scale works.

Kim Jarvis’s love of the British coast inspires her paintings of remote places where the sky, sea and land meet, from the Isles of Scilly to Scotland’s wild Atlantic edge. Her training as a stained-glass artist can be seen throughout her paintings, which explore ever-changing colour, form and shifting patterns of natural light.

Artist Rachel Sudworth lives and works in The Golden Valley on the border of England and Wales, painting from a studio which overlooks the beautiful Black Mountains. Her intuitive responses to the surrounding landscape are process led and combine textures, movement and sound with emotions inspired by what she sees.

Sylvia Wadsley’s new paintings are inspired by a ten-day retreat in Eire in the spring of 2024, taking in the Wild Atlantic Way between Cork and Bantry Bay. Drawing on ‘plein air’ sketches and her own photography, Sylvia has created a collection of semi-figurative paintings that use heightened colour and powerful compositions to convey the emotive impact of natural places, whispered folklore, and Celtic myths.

Painter Bron Jones lives and works in the spectacular landscape of Carmarthenshire, South Wales. Her mixed media works combine liquid marks with vivid colour, to capture what she calls ‘fleeting, but magical’ moments in the landscape. Each work is built through a process of layering, glazing, scratching and sanding back the surface to expose subtleties of texture and colour beneath.

Ann Johnson’s expressive paintings are notable for their soft palette and luxurious, painterly marks. Her works embrace the act of painting as much as the landscapes that inspire them, and her skill in the interpretation of colour means that every image has the shimmering quality of raw nature in real time. Historic Welsh places, including the Neolithic remains of Carreg Sampson burial chamber near Abercastle, are referenced in this new collection.

Cheltenham based artist Janet James takes an experimental approach to oil painting, creating semi-abstracted works inspired by the rolling landscape of the Cotswolds, and her travels in Scotland, Wales and down to Cape Cornwall on the far west tip of the British Isles.

Sue Mundy is a ceramic artist specialising in hand built, sculptural pieces. Each work responds to the simple beauty of natural forms and colours. Her tall, willowy vessels and bottle-like forms are elegant and understated, and are detailed with etched surfaces and subtle angles created by the breaking and re-joining of clay.

See Celtic Memories from February 1 at The Sanctuary Studio & Gallery, High Street, Newnham-on-Severn, Gloucestershire.