AN Australian artist is launching an exhibition featuring images of Morecambe Bay, inspired by her time in the region.

Edinburgh-based Kelly Stewart spent a 10-day residency in South Cumbria having been named Printfest's Printmaker Of The Year for 2012, and this new showcase at the Brewery Arts Centre, in Kendal, features work that she started five years ago.

The drawings and paintings feature some of the bay's best-known views and landmarks among the 38 pieces on display from Friday April 28.


Kelly says: "It was April 2012, when I visited Ulverston for Printfest's Printmaker Of The Year residency, that I saw Morecambe Bay for the first time. I've been returning to draw it ever since.

"On each visit, I drive down from Edinburgh with a hire car full of art materials and boards to embark on exploring and drawing another part of the bay.

"I've travelled along the coast road from Roa Island in the west to Heysham in the east, and my favourite part is around the Aldingham area - which ironically is the area that I first saw the bay from."

All of the work is created with mixed media of acrylic, ink, pencil and screenprint onto board, and is based on Kelly's drawings done on location and from reference materials collected during her visits.


"I draw on location, speedily trying to capture the landscape before it disappears under the moving tide in front of me.

"As the tide races in I feel my painting demands more of a minimalist approach as the water begins to turn what once was an open field into a body of water. The incoming birds bring a sense of urgency and excitement.

"It's the flat expansive nature of the bay which attracts me so much, and for that reason I often wonder whether it stems from my passion for drawing the vast open landscape and salt lake plains of the Australian outback, which I too find just as exciting.

"I would like to thank Richard and Jamie at the Brewery Arts Centre for giving me this wonderful opportunity of creating this body of work, and for giving me a legitimate excuse for more visits to the bay in preparation for this exhibition."

You can see Kelly's work on display at the Brewery Arts Centre, in Kendal, from Friday April 28, during the venue's regular opening hours. Entrance is free.

You can see more of the images featured at www.skellydesigns.com