My Story

I was born in London in 1972 and studied Fine Art at Norwich School of Art graduating with a Fine Art B.A. (Hons) in 1994.

I have lived in East Anglia and on the South Coast, areas that have greatly influenced my work but travelling also provides inspiration for my landscapes.

I was very influenced as a young child by the water colour landscape paintings of my grandfather Geo Burtenshaw and his contemporary Tatton Winter. I also love Constable and particularly Turner for the minimal brushstrokes that capture the light in a scene and both concentrated on the changing of light and atmosphere. I admire Whistler and Monet for their sumptuous simplicity for leaving out detail and also Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot.

I now live close to London and continue to explore the use of my medium.

“I paint with an emotion that each landscape is unique and locked into an interpretive one moment in time”.

My Inspiration

I paint dramatic impressionist and abstract landscapes and seascapes which are inspired by my love of the countryside and the many and varied places I have visited, creating the atmosphere and feeling of a scene with colour, texture and light.

My love of the countryside and how it varies in form at different times of the day depending on the light, and how the contours and colours change continuously is an inspiration to me.

I see a landscape as evocative, a place that can provide memories but where we can all interpret something different even looking at the same scene. I aim to depict the sense of space and mood in something so vast.

My Style

My acrylic paintings are painted on paper, canvas and wood panel which all give their own different textures. I use various sizes of brushes to create a more abstract and spontaneous finish. To obtain a more impressionist and atmospheric feel I then build up and blend more soft layers of paint.

I like to create intense colour combined with a strong texture but also a soft contour.

I love that using a paintbrush allows me to interpret but at the same time convey the changing mood and atmosphere of the natural landscape.

Each painting is intended to be viewed as if you are there and is something you can identify with, or perhaps as if we have all been there before.

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Statement

“The ability to create an ethereal feel to her landscapes.”

Mary Burtenshaw is a unique talent, painting acrylic abstract and impressionist landscapes and seascapes.

Mary’s ability to create an ethereal feel to her landscapes makes them at the same time both striking but yet easy to live with.

Her confidence with broad abstract brushstrokes is matched by her sublime ability to blend stunning colours, both creating form and contour with an unrivalled use of light.

Mary’s professionalism, attention to detail and her ‘feel’ for a painting means that purchasing and owning a Mary Burtenshaw will never be a matter for regret.

— Robert William, Art consultant