Tanya Hinton

Tanya produces unique paintings on wood discovered washed-up on beaches, buried in gardens and reclaimed from skips. Each piece offers wonderful possibilities: the sea-worn textures and patterns of grain might suggest rippled water or downland fields. Flaking paint on old doors might suggest arctic landscapes. Tanya preserves and stabilises the wood and works in oil to paint creatures which seem appropriate and fitting, often enhancing with gold leaf.

Her work is as much about the wood and its history as the painting. The wood has lived before, as trees, then as items that have been used, that may have been loved, but then lost or discarded. Tanya gives this wood a new identity. 

Tanya describes her artistic background: “I was brought up in a very creative ‘bohemian’ household. My father was an artist, who established a highly successful business, sculpting and manufacturing model soldiers. Under his guidance, I learned about handling paint, colour mixing and attention to detail at a very early age. My mother was an artist’s model and many creative friends of my parents would visit. Often left to my own devices in our ramshackle and rundown house by the Thames, I learned to entertain myself and that has stayed with me. Certainly not a conventional upbringing by any stretch of the imagination!”

Tanya works from her studio at Bull Mill Arts, on the banks of the River Wylye in rural Wiltshire. She has had successful exhibitions throughout the South West.