A Cumbrian artist has had a piece of work selected for a prestigious London exhibition.
Linda Ryle, who lives in Cockermouth, will have her painting, Waiting to go out, featured on Figurative Art Now at The Mall Galleries.
It shows a walking stick that belonged to her father.
“I’ve painted this on other occasions since it came into my possession in 1994,” she said. “This time I happened to be in the room where it lives, just as the sunlight was casting particular shadows.”
All the work in the exhibition had to be made since the beginning of last year, and Linda is thrilled to be chosen at a time when representational and figurative painting is enjoying a welcome return to popularity.
“Figurative Art Now offers new works in a wide range of mediums and at affordable prices,” said Linda. “The exhibition covers portraiture, landscape and still life.”
All the works are for sale, with prices starting from £500, and with all the works online, art lovers can filter their views by subject or medium.
Linda, who is married to the artist Julian Cooper, is originally from Newcastle upon Tyne and trained at Goldsmiths School of Art in London. She has been a painter of many different subjects and styles and was also renowned at one time for the painted leather belts which she designed and produced for the shop Ace on Chelsea’s King’s Road.
These were bought by celebrities including Elton John, Lulu, Bianca Jagger and Britt Ekland.
Her first solo show under her maiden name was at the Percy House Gallery in Cockermouth in 2004, and she has exhibited extensively since then.
Linda said: “I take great delight in making an image which creates an illusion of space and different surfaces, working from life where possible. I also use photographs, but never with the aim of producing something photographic.”
