Rupert Aker

I am a Cotswold landscape painter, based in a studio at Painswick in Gloucestershire. I walk the valleys and hills, gaining my inspiration from the woods, meadows and hedgerows, painting ‘en plein air’ when possible. My aim is to capture the effects of the light on the land though the medium of oil paint with palette knife.

I am a self-taught artist, with my love and understanding of the countryside underpinned by reading land management at the Royal Agricultural University, and throughout my life living and working alongside farmers and foresters.

I try to find a way of expressing the wonder of nature and the landscape around me through the medium of oil paint on canvas. Nothing can replace being outside and experiencing the natural world in its raw state, but if I can at least capture the essence of it, I am happy. I hope to create an emotional response through my painting – whether it be a sense of peace and calm or drama and energy: evening light and shadows; cow parsley and hogweed on a wayside verge; water and reflections; mist, evaporation and sunshine after a rain storm; the gloaming; a church spire providing a focal point in the landscape…

I have been exhibiting my work and painting professionally for 15 years, and show my work widely throughout the Cotswolds and beyond. My current project is to hold a regular pop-up exhibition at locations throughout the Cotswolds, showing my art in the landscape that inspired them. I often sell paintings straight off the easel – I love the idea of people buying freshly produced paintings as they might buy freshly cut flowers.

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