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Annabel Eyres OLY

@annabeleyres

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Olympian Artist for Paris 2024.
Sir John Cass, Ruskin School, Oxford Uni.
I love rowing, yoga and sea swimming. Sport + Art = ♥️ www.annabeleyres.com

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I’m thrilled to have won Artistic Contribution of the Year Award presented by @worldrowingofficial in Seville last night.

World Rowing recognised the work I’ve done as #olympianartist this year commissioned by the @olympicmuseum for Paris 2024.

Rowing has been my major inspiration since 1989 when I left art college, founded Rock the Boat and started designing rowing images and T-shirts to fund my international rowing career - RTB is no longer in my hands but its still going strong today.

It’s such a lovely feeling that 35 years of representing rowing has been recognised by all the folks at World Rowing in Lausanne. I’m looking forward to producing something for their walls.

#rowingart #annabeleyresart #rowingartist by @annabeleyres

I made this piece for a legendary lightweight silver medallist on her 60th birthday. I found old maps of her special places. Her favourite colour is blue which must be the case with all of us water based athletes.
#rowingart #rowingartist #olympianartist #olympicmuseum #annabeleyresart by @annabeleyres

Latest commission of that old favourite as a papercut with mixed media backdrop #annabeleyresart #rowingart #artforrowers #rowingpuddles by @annabeleyres

Continuing my posts of my short course with the fine Illustrator. Sitting listening to the howls of wind and rain from Storm Austin then Boelo these trips to inner city gems seem months ago. We drew in a Jubilee gardens and Spitalfields Market then returned to the RDS studio to paint from our drawings - something I really struggle with as I rely on the live observation to inspire my lines and brush strokes.

We were encouraged to dig out our old ink pens - not Rotrings of old but dip pens and bottles of shellac based Indian ink.

The greatest challenge when faced with a flower bed of details is not to drive yourself nuts trying to draw every leaf, branch and flower. Simplification is what our tutor excels at. by @annabeleyres

In September I went back to the Royal Drawing School for a short course led by an illustrator whose work I admire and have dotted around the house in the form of a beloved metal tray, some mugs, picnic plates from Garsington Opera and so forth. When I saw he was leading this Bold Water colour course I jumped at it.

Watercolour was one of my favoured mediums at uni, perhaps because I found it so accessible and so much less of a faff than oil or acrylic. It was reassuring to hear that our tutor felt the same describing working on a kitchen table and using the barest of equipment and a minimal number of colours and ONE brush - yes one simple number 6 brush. So maybe I am not driven by laziness in my appreciation of this simple tool.

The first day we drew and painted from flowers from his garden. by @annabeleyres

Thank you @palaisdesvaches for featuring some of my work in their beautifully hung and curated show for @hampshireopenstudio which continues until Monday.

If you have not yet visited this magical gallery nestled beside the sea at Exbury, beyond Beaulieu, then do. It’s the creation of Caroline and Nick de Rothschild who are artists themselves and generously share this space with other creators.

Angus and I cycled to the gallery, a round trip of 32 miles (plus coffee and cake stop in Beaulieu) hence my lurid cycling gear.

Before moving down here full time in 2020, I worried about the lack of galleries and creative spaces but thanks to visions such as the Palais, the New Forest is fast becoming an artists dream.

#newforestart #olympianartist #annabeleyresart #hampshireopenstudios #hampshireopenstudios2026 by @annabeleyres

DONALD LEGGET 1942-2026

In 2006, I painted this portrait of Donald Legget at our home at Radley College, his alma mater. For many years he coached and mentored alongside my husband to forge the dream team which oversaw the golden years of Radley rowing from 1997-2004. Donald was instrumental in involving the legendary Harry Mahon at RCBC too.

We recognised Donald was a genius and a legend back then, as did many, hence immortalising him on canvas was important. Our family have remained close friends with him since, until he died last week.

Sadly he was not treated well by his alma mater and his contribution never acknowledged by the management of the school, although the boys he coached remained loyal to the end.

We forged an even stronger bond when we too left the school some years later.

However Radley’s loss was another’s gain and Donald took his genius elsewhere to SPS, assisting Bobby to build the school’s own golden period which continues to this day.

Donald is dressed in CUBC kit in this portrait with only a hint of Radley at the top left corner. CUBC was his true alma mater and loyal to the end.

A memorial is being planned to give this great man the send off he truly deserves. We are devastated to have lost such a loyal kind friend, a maverick, eccentric man who can never be replaced, but how much richer we all are to have known him. by @annabeleyres

I’ve several paintings in the @henleyroyalregatta art show this week. The exhibition is based in the trophy tent in Stewards Enclosure. Take a look if you are there!
#henleyart #olympianartist #rowingart #annabeleyresart #olympianart by @annabeleyres

I’ve never been to the @olympicmuseum in Lausanne before but today was the day. What a fantastic afternoon spent perusing the collections and learning more about the Games’s origins and Baron Coubertin’s vision with many references to his inspiration found in English public schools and compulsory sport. All to create a ‘balance of mind and body’.
He really was quite eccentric. by @annabeleyres

Lithography course day 2. I couldn’t resist a rowing themed print. Inspired by a photograph of the OUWBC @oubc womens eight on the eve of the legendary 2015 BOAT RACE, when women were finally accepted onto the Tideway to race the full BR course of 4 and a quarter miles.

I had to destroy my image at the end of the day under an iron ‘levigator’which was dangerously heavy but refreshingly available with no health and safety controls. Images of crushed toes or worse were ever present whilst spinning it around like a wooden top at high speed and grinding the surface clean. Thankfully all was well and I still have ten toes. by @annabeleyres

I studied Fine Art and Printmaking at the @ruskin_school_art_oxford at Oxford University but I never learnt lithography.
It was fascinating to return to the Oxford Printmakers Cooperative for a 2 day course (not long enough) learning the basics.

You prepare your 300 million year old stone mined from one valley in Bavaria, grinding it clean and washing in acetic acid. Then you draw with greasy waxy implements, cover your work with gum arabic then use white spirit to remove the grease leaving an invisible template to print from. Once inked up the image re-appears and using a press you can create proofs and editions. Fascinating, frustrating, labour intensive and rewarding in equal measure.

There is something reassuring about learning an age old method which has been perfected over centuries. by @annabeleyres

The enduring design - Puddles customised for a member of Worcester Rowing Club. This image seems to have real emotional power, connecting people to a sport they love. But such a simple one too. I dreamt it up years ago after seeing something similar at Cincinnati Regatta in 1987 on the back of a T-shirt.

#rowingart #rowingartist #olympianartist by @annabeleyres