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Landscape artist based in the Eden Valley Cumbria

Stuart Fraser
Landscape Artist

I am based in the beautiful Eden Valley in Cumbria UK

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Dramatic Skies
Inspiring Landscapes

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Fraz - Landscape Artist
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  • Exhibitions
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    • My Paintings
    • Commissions
    • Making a Giclee Print
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My Portfolio

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Stuart James Fraser

My Work

I have a passion to bring atmosphere and drama to my work, working predominantly in Oils and Acrylics.

Working from photographs, sketches and imagination I look for the “extreme” moments in nature. Steering away from a natural palette, often introducing bolder tones to achieve a unique signature look in each piece.

About

I have always had a love of drawing and painting, it was one of the few subjects at school I was actually pretty good at. In the working class environment where I grew up in the fifties and sixties the idea of becoming an artist was a little like wanting to be an astronaut, "not a proper job, Young Man". It still did not stop me "day dreaming" of one day becoming a political cartoonist like my hero the great man Giles . Giles was my first window into the world of mark making, I came upon him as a young man while awaiting a haircut, a doctor or a dentist, his books and annuals seemed to be a regular feature in every waiting room in my day. They certainly made an unpleasant experience bearable and I was always sad if my turn came around too quickly.

Backround

I have been fortunate to spend the last 30 years working in graphics, web development and print based design. Interestingly, my love of painting was ever present but unfulfilled. Ironically, losing my job in the 2008 financial crash, although painful actually allowed me time to take up the brush and I have never laid it down since. Largely self taught, I decided in 2019 to get some professional tuition and started a period of study with the Norfolk Painting School and have continued this throughout 2020. This has been very illuminating and I have noticed a progressive drift towards post impressionism in my work..

How I paint

Like most artists, I work from photographs and sketches but only for initial reference, depending thereafter on my own expression. I rarely paint exactly what I see unless I am blessed with the light I crave. Painting for me is all about that moment in time, with a strong emphasis on chiaroscuro. This obsession for strong contrasts stems from my numerous train journeys as a youngster, to my grandparents in the majestic Scottish highlands. Those wondrous journeys left me with a fascination for light and its interaction with the landscape it kisses. .

I strive constantly to keep improving and when that stops, so will I

Brough of Birsay
Despite the moody artists pose, I love painting dramatic skies. Inside I am smiling, honestly.

What inspires my paintings?

Growing up in the middle of Cumbria and the Scottish Borders it is hard not to be Inspired

Memories

I have always been fascinated by light and shadow, some of my earliest memories were the ever popular Sunday morning family drives into the countryside, this was in the days before petrol became too expensive for such family ventures. The mountains and lakes of Cumbria's Lake District was like an exotic other world compared to the council housing estate where I grew up. And despite now living in the beautiful Eden Valley for over 35 years I still get a buzz every time I see those fells, woodlands and hills

With a name like Stuart James Fraser you might guess that my Father was a Scot and you would be right. He came down to Cumbria from Elgin in the highlands, initialy based here on national servce and then with the railways. On my many train journeys to the far north to visit and spend school holidays with my Grandparents, I could not believe how wild and dramatic the Cairngorms were. Sitting in freezing cold carriages in snowy highland stations with my nose pressed to the window, looking out at that splendid grandeur left strong images in my young brain.

Even then nature held a fascination for me and the wilder and more dramatic the sky the better. I am obsessed by attempting to paint skies, constantly trying to capture the softness and fleeting nature of them. I am always looking for those breaks in clouds that send stabs of light to illuminate the land below, they provide those sharp contrasts of intense greens, blues and rich browns that shine out against the usual muted olive and slate grey of our UK climate, Lightening even the dullest day.

Why Fraz?

I sign my work under my childhood nickname. In actual fact, while growing up very few people ever called me by my real name or probably even knew of my interest in art. However, my nickname looked (at least to me) as though it might stylise well as a logo Since then it stopped being something I rather disliked and became the nom de plume I have used to sign artwork for many years.

Evan

I am a member of the Eden Valley Artist Network, a collective of artists, organisations and venues based in the North Lakes and Eden Valley whose aim is to bring art and local artists to an audience. We have a permanent base at our EVAN Gallery and Studios at 4 Corney Place- Penrith - CA11 7PX - open 10 - 4 Tuesday-Sunday If you are looking to join such an organisation then Evan may be for you.

Learn More

Landscapes
in Light and Shadow

I am inspired by dramatic skies and how the light interacts with the landscape

My Cumbria
A Landscape that is truly unique

It may not be as wild as Scotland or grand like the Alps, but my Cumbria has it all in miniature!. Lakes and mountains, moorland and dales, rugged coasts, timeless valleys and villages where the landscape is largely unspoiled by the marches of time.

It has been an inspiration and home all of my life and I never tire of it. .

Exhibitions

Where can you see my work. Information on Galleries, Exhibitions and Events

Evan Logo
EVAN Gallery 4 Corney Place- Penrith - CA11 7PX

Visit Website


CastleFraming logo
Castle Framing and Art Gallery -20-22 Front St, Brampton CA8 1NG   and 5 Market St, Carlisle (under the iconic Old Town Hall)

Visit Website


Quality Giclee Prints


All my work is photographed in high definition enabling me to offer superb quality Giclee prints. Printed on either fine art paper or direct to canvas.

The quality and definition from this special 1200 dpi, 12 colour service is really amazing

They are printed by Castle Framing in the small market town of Brampton close to my village, and can be purchased mounted, ready for framing.

Learn More Online Shop

Mounted print ready for framing

Commissions

Is there a memory or location you would like made into a painting

If your answer is YES then perhaps a commission could make this thought into a reality.

Stuart working on
Stuart working on a largish painting "Running Tide"

It is amazing when someone relates their idea to me, and we begins the collaboration neccessary to make their their hopes and vision are mine also
. This is the only way I can paint in my particular way but still capture their aspirations

Learn more about starting a commission

If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.

Edward Hopper

Have no fear of perfection you'll never reach it

Salvador Dali

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.

Salvador Dali

Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.

Edgar Degas

Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do.

Edgar Degas

Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.

Twyla Tharp

A glimpse of
my latest work

A range of Paintings in oils, acrylics, pastels..

view all my work
  • All
  • Oils
  • Palette Knife,
  • Woodland,
  • Mountains,
  • By The Waters Edge
  • 2020
  • Buildings
  • 2021
  • winter
thumbs/winter_woodland_thumb_1611750041.jpg

Winter Woodland

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A Stab of Light

thumbs/over-the-eden-thumb_1611568026.jpg

Over the Eden

thumbs/whitehaven_harbour_thumb_1611588901.jpg

Whitehaven Harbour from Parton Beach

thumbs/sunny-winter-lane_thumb_1611763478.jpg

Sunny Winter Lane

thumbs/greatcorby_insnow_thumb_1602232779.jpg

Great Corby in Winter

other artists you may want to look up

I have no connection to any of the artists, I offer them up simply because I have followed them as a lover of contemporary art. I love their use of colour and medium and the imagination to express it creatively.

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Fraz - Landscape Artist

Fraz Landscapes in Light and Shadow

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