Latest Work

March 2023

September 2022

July 2022

Frome Open Art Trail

Andrew Eddleston, Roger Billingham and Caroline Walsh-Waring from the group recently exhibited as part of The Vicarage Street Gallery in the Frome Open Art Trail which is a regular event in the Annual Frome Festival. Despite heavy rain the first weekend and searing heat at the end of the week a good week was had by all. Artists often don’t stick to one group but take advantage of many different types of events like art trails, venues, galleries, markets and occasionally large art fairs. It’s well worth experimenting with different ways of exhibiting your work as you will eventually find where your efforts are most appreciated plus you get to meet new people and new artists. Below are just a few images from the event.

June 2022

Roger Billingham

Janneane Drew

May 2022

Caroline Walsh-Waring

Featured here is a recent oil painting by Caroline inspired by hanging out her first set of washing in spring last year. Still in the midst of the Covid Pandemic Caroline wanted to celebrate the small pleasures in life. “Each spring when I can hang my first line of washing in the garden I am struck by how lucky I am to have a lovely garden to enjoy, I love seeing the spring flowers and blossom coming on the apple tree and I get stupidly happy at not having to use the tumble dryer for a few months!”

September 2021

Richard Prentice

Most of my recent pieces have been a continuation of my “doodle state”, the tube piece arrived as an alternative idea for viewing purposes. The “can assemblage” is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, it’s happened.The future will bring some larger canvas works I’m still devising.

February 2021

Emma Mellersh

Here’s some of my work from last year. I’ve had time to create some new designs, and this strange year brought the opportunity to explore on-line sales, such as via the Glastonbury Goddess Conference On-Line Marketplace. I’ve been working with a zero waste shop, Fillerup, here in Radstock, creating festive decorations. I have also been involved in an exciting collaboration with an independent yarn dyer in Wales, so wearable pieces such as Sunshine and Dawn are truly unique creations. 

January 2021

Terry Bridgeman

The flora images are from a series I painted based on our garden borders during shielding at home.
Resin sculpture has been in my garden for some years and is constructed of cloth soaked in bronze resin on a metal armature.
Its the only one I have left from the five I made.
The fish mosaic dates from a good many years ago when I was into stained glass and mosaics. 
I would like to include a Goethe saying which I have found very helpful over the years when I have been feeling lost.

December 2020

Roger Billingham

During this difficult year I set myself the challenge of working in a totally different medium – that of working with alcohol inks.  Part of the challenge for me has been the contrast between the quite detailed and controlled work I usually do in oils and drawing.  As can be seen the resulting images are quite abstract, and therefore each image will ‘speak’ to each person differently, something that I find quite intniguing.

My choice of colours come from the natural world that I see on my daily walks – the spectacuar change from the full blowsy colour of summer to the more muted but no less spectacular colours of autumn.

November

Rachel Howland

I have now been an OBA member for 5 years. The main subjects I like to paint are animals, flowers and people. Recently I have been doing watercolours of birds and using metallic paint as a finishing highlight. My most recent painting is a watercolour of a starling with bronze highlights.

October

Penny Lloyd

Penny has been painting and drawing in the South West for the best past  of thirty years.

During lockdown she made many visits to a favourite location, Mells, to make sketches and photographs which she has turned into designs for greetings cards. Later, she saw there were possibilities to create embroideries of the cow parsley that inhabited the grass verges. It was great to get out needle and thread after so long.

Her influence are mainly plants and the landscape with its ever changing its ever changing weather patterns.

September

Neale Mellersh

I have been an artist all my life. Over the years I have been lucky enough to exhibit and sell work in Bristol, London, Paris, New York and of course here in Radstock.
Most recently I was responsible for conceiving and organising the now famous ‘Old Bakery Artists Gallery’ in RADCO super store
The now closed Gallery has passed into the history of the town and is still fondly spoken of by many.

I work in water colour deliberately as it is an essential ingredient in creating life.
My paintings deal with the evidence of human existence as reflected within the landscape.
I have become more and more interested in our ‘condition’ and my work has ever more layers of content.
I use colour and etched line to communicate journeys some a nano second some are millions of light years.

Astronomy and the stars have always been a big interest for me and I have begun to study nebulae
They mark the start of the coalescence of matter into solid form and are part of the eternal journey of ourselves as star dust.
I have always been passionate about the natural world.
I am a keen naturalist and the County Recorder and a recognised National Expert for moths in Somerset.
The connection between Art, Nature, Space and the Human Condition forms the basis of the content of my work.

During the lock down period I produced 21 paintings some of which are included here.
Currently I am working on a set of landscapes from the StoneHenge area.

My work will be on display in a solo exhibition at the 4th Plinth Art Gallery Broad Street Bristol from the 29th January until 29th May 2021.

August

Janet Jackson

I have been a member of OBA since 2014.
While the country was in lockdown I decided to concentrate on improving my drawing skills using pencils. All of my drawings are from my own photographs, I have drawn freehand  but with the more complex drawings like buildings and some animals  I used the grid method as I wanted the drawings to have the correct with proportions. The down side of the grid is the rubbing out the lines before I could get on with the drawing. I have now changed this, still using the grid method, drawing it out on a separate paper, using tracing paper to copy the drawing.  I enjoy drawing with my pencils and I have carried on with this method and including when out and about walking locally and I have found I am more observant. 

July

Janneane Drew

I have lived and worked in Kent for many years and have recently moved to Somerset where I was fortunate to link up with The Old Bakery Artists.

I have been producing art since 2010 when I had a change in career and had the time to develop my interests in the arts. I attended an art course at the University of Creative Arts in Maidstone and this also sparked my interest in photography. When in Kent I was a member of Maidstone Visual Arts Network. After moving to Somerset in 2019 I wanted to continue exhibiting my work and after visiting a local Art Trail I was fortunate to be accepted into The Old Bakery Artists.

I enjoy producing portraits of both people and pets along with wildlife and with my photography I tend to look for the more abstract views that often get overlooked by the casual glance of a passer by.

June

Frank Reeves

I have been a member of the OBA for many years.
During the corona virus I have been out with the sketch book sketching and painting some of the bridges that span the river Somer, and surrounding countryside.

April

Diana Walker

As I am now self isolated at home for the next few months I hope to get the 2 paintings below finished. The Brown Bears where photographed in Finland last year and the Painting in Bath is part of Kilmersdon Art Group’s project for this year on producing a painting on Global Warming, which will be shown at their Exhibition in 2021. This painting is on Light Pollution. 

The sculpture of the Otters is waiting to have the base glazed and then to be fired in the gas kiln at Frome Community Pottery next September, which will turn the otters and tree trunk dark brown. The College has let me have some clay so that I can get on with my next sculptures over the next few months 

I will still go out and about with my camera taking pictures of the local wildlife while keeping isolated, so I have plenty to keep me occupied in these troubling times.

March

Caroline Walsh-Waring

Caroline has been a member of the group for around 4 years now, how time flies. It is a great experience to be able to exhibit with such a range of talented people. We work together to exchange ideas and although our work differs widely it all sits together so well giving our visitors a feast for the eyes.

Caroline mainly creates surreal oil paintings, she is exploring the surreal through the creation of 3D sculptures in porcelain and in addition tothis works in pen, ink, watercolour and pencil.

Caroline also exhibits in other events, she is a regular at the Bath Arts Fair, Frome Open Studios and Frome Arts Society exhibitions. She also exhibits in events throughout the country and has forged links with artists across the world. Her unusual, bright and surreal style of work gives a refreshing change to more traditional images.

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February

Annie Davenport

I am enjoying more time now to explore new painting techniques, with time to experiment and create some of the paintings that I have not had the opportunity to do before.

http://www.painters-online.co.uk/artist/AnnieDavenport

https://www.redbubble.com/people/anniedavenport

January 2020

Andrew Eddleston

Andrew is one of the longest members of OBA since the group was formed in 2000.
I have been potting, now, for over thirty years.
In that time I have worked as a production potter, taught, been a technician, run workshops and creative projects. 
Currently I am a tutor for Frome Community Pottery and technician.
I have always made my own work. It is mainly thrown domestic ware, made from a smooth terracotta clay with slip decoration and finished with transparent coloured glazes. 
Recently I have gone back to using the technique of raku. I have been making chickens, finished with lustrous glazes and vases using the decorative technique of horse hair and feather raku.