Valerie Galpin
Island Artist
Val was born and brought up in Herefordshire. She has lived on the Isle of Man since 1995, which is where she discovered oil painting at a local art class in 2010.
In 2016 she enrolled on the Norfolk Painting School Diploma Course, where she learned all manner of oil painting techniques linked to an art history perspective. Subsequently her Diploma pieces were sold at the Graduate Show in the New British Art Gallery.
Val's paintings aim to provide the viewer with a retreat from the realities of life. Providing them with a personal space, in which they can re-group and come to terms with life's challenges. Her subjects vary according to her mood and inspiration.
Recent series have included one on Manx vernacular architecture. This has focused on an atmospheric presentation of the buildings, extracted from their reality, in order to reveal their essence, so enabling them to speak for themselves.
An earlier series, painted through the Covid lockdowns, features people - not portraits, but snapshots of the informative body language of individuals and groups as they went about their daily lives.
Still life paintings occur intermittently in Val's portfolio, providing her with a personal retreat from actual life by simply concentrating on the combination of light, colour and shapes as placed in the framed surface.
Her painting process is slow and meditative and completely absorbing. Many layers of translucent paint are required to build the depth and subtlety of colours. Consideration of composition and contrast are integral to the design of each work. Usually, she is working on several paintings simultaneously, in order to allow for contemplation and decision making as each separate layer dries.
Val has had several works selected for juried exhibitions, both on the Isle of Man and in England.
Examples of Val's work can usually be found in the Creative Network's Isle of Man Art Festival (biennially in August) and other local exhibitions and is collected by several island based as well as offshore residents.