Andrew Stratford

Andrew is a contemporary artist based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. He graduated from York St John University with BA(Hons) in Design and was a teacher for 25 years. Since leaving teaching he has focused on his own art practice and has recently completed an MA in Creative Practice. 

The inspiration for much of his recent work is drawn from the atmospheric landscapes of Yorkshire and the North East. He is particularly drawn to the rugged beauty, big skies and drama of the coast. His work is about a continuing search for the sublime in the landscape. Whether that is the few remaining scraps of natural environment or that which has been manipulated by agriculture or even scarred by industry. He finds the world around us endlessly fascinating, exciting, calming, uplifting and occasionally slightly unnerving. 

Both outside in the landscape and in the studio, using notes, photographs and sketchbooks for reference, he experiments with spontaneous expressive, gestural mark-making. He attempts to capture an emotion, a feeling of movement and atmosphere and to create depth and texture by building up layers of paint. Although his paintings are semi-abstract in nature, he endeavours to retain a sense of place and the human connection to it.