Nina Archer

Nina Archer is an abstract landscape painter, living and working in the south Shropshire hills. Following a career in graphic design and project management she moved to Shropshire from Sussex a few years ago and began painting full time from her studio which overlooks the borderlands of the Welsh Marches.
The work is very much about her experience of this landscape. She spends a lot of time walking in and observing her immediate environment and examining and absorbing elements of the landscape that have become important to her – the textural layering from land cultivation, the linear forms, the shape and contour of the land, the darkness and contrast of the forested valleys, the accents of colour and the changing weather patterns.
When she is back in the studio she develops these observations through abstracted forms often defined by the dramatic light, black shapes and the darkness and contrast of this unique landscape.  Nina works in acrylic, charcoal and graphite and her work has a strong core drawing element. She builds up layers in gesso and acrylic that are then often sanded, scored or erased to reveal or obscure marks that have been previously made. Her training in design has had a significant effect on her understanding of form, proportion and mark making and has been instrumental in the development of a graphic approach to the work.
“It is important to me that the painting doesn’t reveal everything in one go. I like the idea that there are areas in the painting that may look flat from afar but when you examine them closely there is much more going on – the surface has been reworked and is often highly textured. Abstract work can be complex and sometimes challenging to look at but there is very often a reference point, something familiar, which is what I hope people can see or feel when they look at the work - a connection.”
She has exhibited widely in London and in galleries throughout the UK, as well as the Royal Cambrian Academy, Wells Art Contemporary, RWS and at Art Fairs including the Affordable Art Fair and The Other Art Fair.