Quietude by Kirsten Elswood

The landscape for Kirsten Elswood, feels like a homecoming. A childhood filled with outdoor adventures has made wild environments feel like places of safety. Her landscapes hold the viewer. They are often places of earthy darkness: a dense wood, a moorland den, a mossy grove. These landscapes give Kirsten and opportunity to explore a high contrast of light and dark: the way that light filters through close packed leaves and branches, casting dramatic shadows and allowing the viewer darts of brightness. These tonal extremes lend her paintings a tension. For as much as the landscape is a comfort, there is a darkness in its wilderness. The clouds rumble in, the light fades, a storm brews. Kate Reeve-Edwards (Cultural Capital Arts)