Bio
Shirley Kirkcaldy is a contemporary landscape painter, living and working on Dartmoor in southwest England. Drawing inspiration from the interplay between light, land and sea, she is best known for her distinctive expressive paintings of the coastlines and wild moorlands of Devon and Cornwall.
Shirley’s work has been represented by several prominent southwest galleries as well as being exhibited widely and held in private collections in UK, Europe, USA, New Zealand and Singapore.
She is an elected Academician with the South West Academy of Fine and Applied Arts (SWAc) and has featured across a range of media including Devon Life, Dartmoor Magazine, The Artist, Light in the West publication, BBC Radio and ITV’s ‘Unwind with ITV’ series, a programme featuring real-time artists at work.
Her studio is based at Buckland Abbey on Dartmoor in Devon, a creative working space where original artwork and fine art prints are on show and available to purchase. Her Etsy shop offers a range of contemporary homeware, gifts and cards for sale.
My work is both expressive and of the moment, with a deep sense of place at its heart - it is for collectors who appreciate the beauty and remoteness of the South West, in all its weathers and seasons.
My paintings act as a visual diary and are created in the landscape as well as from sketches and studies made on location and developed in my studio. Synonymous with light, atmosphere and energy, they are rich in personal responses, searching for something more than the obvious and overriding the need for direct representation. This allows a freedom to interpret and explore new ways of expressing ideas through the physicality of paint and other media, whilst also capturing an authenticity borne of a specific location.
These immersive encounters with the natural environment form the starting point of all my work. Ultimately, paintings determine their own direction and their own conclusion and what lies within their layers becomes as important as what can be seen on the surface …. much like the landscape itself.
Statement
‘Growing up in Devon, with Cornwall on my doorstep, instilled in me a love and fascination for their wild moorlands and dramatic coastlines. As a landscape artist these locations are not merely geography; they are inextricably bound up in mood and memory, which is why they have the power to move us. It is in these spaces that I find endless inspiration and the challenge of creating visual connections to places that are both uplifting and have stories to tell’.
The Studio
My studio is located at Buckland Abbey, a beautiful, historic National Trust site nestled in the moorland near Yelverton, Devon [PL20 8EY]. It’s very much a working space where you will be able to see paintings in progress as well as those for sale on the studio walls. Also stocked are special edition prints, greeting cards and a unique range of contemporary homeware and affordable gifts, all professionally reproduced from my original artwork and handcrafted in the UK.
It is surrounded by woodland walks, with Dartmoor on the doorstep and on site is the National Trust cafe offering a delicious array of food and drinks, ideal if you want to make a day of it!
Usual opening days are Thursday to Sunday but please check before making a special trip as I may be working away from the studio. For visits outside opening times please get in touch here.
Please subscribe to my newsletter for a quarterly fix of art news and to be the first to hear about upcoming workshops and events.
