MEET RACHEL SINGLETON
Wildlife Watercolour Artist
FORTHCOMING: Summer 2025
WILD OF WING
BRANTWOOD HOUSE, CONISTON, CUMBRIA
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In this forthcoming exhibition of my bird art, I will be creating 25-30 new pieces for the Brantwood Wild of Wing collection.
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I am delighted to have been asked to exhibit at Brantwood this summer. For me this is a dream come true. I regularly enjoy visiting the home of the polymath, John Ruskin, getting absorbed in the detail of his work, feeling awe as I sit in front of his collection of paintings by his friend J.M.W. Turner, and feeling inspired by the many modern artists Brantwood shows during its changing exhibitions.
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THE VISION BEHIND WILD OF WING
I have been asked to focus solely on my bird art for this exhibition, and I am delighted to do this. For me, birds represent so many things: lightness, freedom, beauty, enchantment and mystery.
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Painting them gives me time to pore over the exquisite details of feather, wing, eye and beak. All the intricacies of their beautiful design. When I look at them close-up, studying the overlay of their feathers or the movement of their bodies, I cannot help but wonder that they are possible. What beautiful force brought them into being and into our lives?​
LOCAL BIRDLIFE
For this exhibition, I am focussing on the birdlife in and around the grounds of Brantwood House.
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From long-tailed tits to magpies, from the very friendly robins at the cafe to the visiting mallards at the edge of Coniston Water, from the resident sparrowhawk and tawny owl that hunt the grounds to the buzzards that soar above, there are a great many lovely subjects to choose from.
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To come with me on the journey of creating my solo exhibition you can sign up for my newsletter: Wild Spirit Watercolour. I only send this out every 2-3 weeks so you will never be bombarded by me. Instead, you will get to connect with me as a fellow Nature lover and come with me as I bring the beauty I experience in Nature to life on the page.​
PREVIOUS: Late Summer 2024
WILD LAKES EXHIBTION
BEATRIX POTTER GALLERY, WILLIAM HEELIS OFFICE, HAWKSHEAD, CUMBRIA
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This unique exhibition draws on the legacy of Beatrix Potter as an extraordinary female artist and conservationist. For six weeks, a select group of three professional local artists, who live and work in rural Cumbria, showcase artwork that celebrates the elemental rawness, delicacy and beauty of the Lakes, alongside work by local school children.
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THE VISION BEHIND WILD LAKES
Amongst the mountains and moors, tarns and rambling streams, flowers, lichens and moss - in secluded places where wild birds nest and wild creatures roam, where the land can as easily be dowsed in moonlight as dowsed in rain,
where there's an infinite complexity of sounds, scents, colours and textures - there is a very different world to be seen, felt, heard and understood.​
There is a wilder, more mysterious side to the Lake District that can be easily missed on a fleeting visit to the area.
In this inagural Wilder Arts Exhbition, local artists evoke and explore the elemental beauty of the Lakeland environment - its splendor and fragility, its wild places and wild creatures.
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What happens when we enter into a deeper relationship with Nature?
What would it mean to be a steward of these wild places in these times?
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LOCAL ARTISTS
Jane Exley, Joy Grindrod and Rachel Singleton come together for this exhibition, to exploring the wild land and wild creatures of the Lake District through rich woollen textiles, atmospheric oil paintings and exquisite watercolours.
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This exhibition was a collaboration between the National Trust, local parish councils, local schools and the artists.