WELCOME TO OAKLEY ART

Elizabeth Oakley has an international background and, due to her father’s architectural career, was brought up in the Third world, particularly in Jamaica, India and Africa. Well travelled, she has seen the breadth of life in different cultures. But back in the England she loves above all, she has developed a career as a local artist, having previously been employed in broadcast media, print publishing, higher education and the IT industry in Cambridge.

Elizabeth’s artistic life over recent years has developed in contrast to this early travelling lifestyle. She sees depth in one place. There is depth in the close observation of nature and architecture especially in the Suffolk countryside. Alongside the depth of observation possible in one place, is the potential to see connections with the past as well as connections between the layers of history and the living and natural world of today.

Elizabeth loves both the potential of black and white line drawings and the harmony of colour sketches to evoke the past as well as the present. She has developed a recent theme for her work in and around cathedrals and churches in East Anglia. She has built up a collection of black and white drawings with character, evoking the depth of history and time, and contrasting history and time with the living world of today.

The smooth lines of the landscape, its ever changing aspects through tone, form and colour are also endlessly intriguing. Elizabeth has worked on a wide range of harmonious colour works over many years and some of these were produced on short visits to the Suffolk coast since she moved to Suffolk from Cambridge in 2001. Works have also been completed in French and Scottish locations.

Elizabeth is a largely self-taught artist, developing skills slowly over time, believing that the creative skill comes from: close attention to the natural world, sustained concentration and detailed observation. She believes that once these are broken, the picture will inevitably fragment and the result will be neither true, nor accurate, nor convincing.

Elizabeth is interested to hear from other artists with a view to exchanging ideas, and exhibition opportunities. The plan for this website is that it will bring work to a new audience in the online age, and give artists, observers, as well as buyers of art, a chance to view, buy, commission, and/or comment by email to .

Sizewell Power Station from Minsmere, Suffolk

Saxon Chapel at Bradwell St Peter, Essex

Plymouth Sound from Jennycliff, Devon