Somerville’s nostalgic subject matter was borne out of an inherent desire to visualise the vivid memories of his Glaswegian childhood. A Glaswegian childhood which was lived out during the industrial 1950s. Somerville strives to reimagine the places and the people which and who shaped his youth and formative years, despite the very vistas of foundries, factories and steel works having been long gone and forever disappeared from this urban landscape. Somerville was born in Glasgow, 1947 into a city that conveyed a great and powerful atmosphere during this period. Bustling streets, coupled with a vim and vigour to its citizens and residents, which engendered this all-pervading, steely sense of community. Somerville’s artist attributes were recognised by others from an early age. After graduating in the late 1960s from  the Glasgow School of Art Somerville decided to enter the world of commercial art and ended up securing roles as an Illustrator in a succession of city advertising agencies, which he focused on for many years. Turning from full-time employee to freelancer, Somerville finally turned his back on commerce and turned professional later in life. Although his personal art had never left him as all the time Somerville had been plugging away, painting for pleasure well into his adulthood, and eventually forged the opportunity to present some of his artistic back catalogue in a raft of Scottish galleries.

Doug was born in Bristol, 1972,  the third of four children, his upbringing was a lively affair dominated by improvised football and cricket matches in the street, a whole menagerie of noisy pets. As soon as he left school Doug worked in a draughtsman’s office until in 1989 he attended a technical drawing exhibition. Fascinated with the skill of technical illustration he applied for the course. Doug passed with distinction and set out on a career in illustration, specialising in airbrush artwork, brimming with a new confidence and excitement. The work he produced at this time was beautifully composed with meticulous attention to detail. While working full time on artwork for briefs,  Doug spent his evenings and weekends on what he refers to as his private work. Given a free rein, his approach became less perfect but more “authentic”. The effect of this stylistic shift was to transform his art from something rigid and static into something overflowing

Rebecca Lardner is one of the UK’s most highly sought-after and collectable artists. In 2008 she was voted the best new artist in the UK by the nation’s art galleries, and in 2010 she was named as the UK’s Artist of the Year. Since then her whimsical paintings have been featured widely in the media, demand for her work has soared and she has been dubbed ‘the modern day L.S.Lowry’. Rebecca’s quintessentially British style originates in her Dorset upbringing; although much of her early work is figurative, her love of the distinctive coastline has been the mainstay of her success. Her upbeat scenes portray the lively world of the traditional English fishing village from a contemporary standpoint, with an irresistible combination of quirky humour and technical panache. The timeless subject matter gives these

Peter Smith’s endless imagination is fuelled by artists such as Salvador Dali and Will Bullas, whose surreal characters and sense of humour bring life to their creations. Peter Smith is a self taught artist; all his ‘Impossimal’ artwork is oil paint on board, painstakingly created using methods that belies their sometimes simple appearance. Scale models of every scene and ‘Impossimal’ is created beforehand, some of the models and sets are upwards of six feet long and contain and contain up to a thousand components. Each painting also has its own story, sometimes based on real people and at other times based on pure fiction twisted with history. All of Smith’s  ‘Impossimal’ artwork contain hidden items, puzzles, connections, dot-2-dots and numerous other little tricks to 

Helen grew up in a small rural village in the Midlands. After graduating she moved to Cumbria, then later to York with her partner. She took with her a great love of clay that she had acquired during her studies, and after sharing studio space with a potter in exchange for hours spent looking after a shop, she set herself up as an independent artist. Having a family which was heavily involved in a broad range of arts and crafts, from painting to dressmaking, created an expectation of some kind of artistic future in Helen’s mind. She remembers being fascinated by the human form during her first experience of life drawing classes on a physical mechanical level, and also in the subtleties of body language –both of which have remained with her and still inform her artistic vision today. Helen lists a varied range of inspirational artistic sources for her work, from Assyrian friezes and cave art to the drawings of Klimt and the clay maquettes of Rodin. She also owes a debt to the rocks around and up the many mountains she has climbed, enjoying both their aesthetics and their place in nature and history. These and many other influences go towards creating the ideas behind her sculptures. Helen keeps a sketch/scrap book of ideas, inspiration and research, and the pieces develop from this; it may be a mood, a feeling or simply a pose that really sparks her imagination.