Spook Gilroy


Gloucestershire based artist Spook Gilroy trained at Camberwell Art College and Oxford Brookes. Following a successful career decade in floristry, Spook returned to her first love of oil on canvas, culminating in an established studio in her home county.

Spook’s experiences in the floristry trade coupled with a rural childhood bestowed an affinity for the changing seasons and a calling to explore the subtle variations in light throughout the year. As a result, Spook is happiest painting en plein air, however she is also happy developing work in the studio. Her loose painterly approach captures the light and atmosphere of the subject matter without slavish devotion to detail.

Following two solo shows in London (in 2010) and one in Oxfordshire (in 2018) Spook’s next exhibition will be on 4th December at her home in Gloucestershire.


Commissions


My favourite indulgence is the commission. It is such a privilege to be invited into such a personal space and trusted to be able to represent it. This process requires a combination of honesty and true communication to enable a successful collaboration. The commission quite often involves a place which has huge sentimental significant to the client, consequently, the process of interpreting what and how they perceive that space and the attachment they have to it, is crucial to the process. By doing this, I am immersed in a borrowed experience that is flooded with nostalgia and sentimentality, and the trust and honesty of this shared experience appeals to my romantic nature.

I prefer to have visited a place to get a full understanding of the light and any other sensory experiences, however this is not always possible and so I am happy to work from photographs with the client.

There are numerous examples of commissions here which endeavour to capture a memory or state of mind and all the senses and emotions that resonate by association. All commissions on this site already own their place somewhere, however, please feel free to use them for inspiration and or contact me to help me realise yours.