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Heather McAlpine

@heathermcalpineart

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Heather McAlpine MA RCA
Sea-inspired paintings.
Created in Cornwall.
Original artworks for coastal interiors.
Available to buy online.

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A really lovely story from the studio last week✨

This young couple from Austria came into my studio and chose a small painting on paper. A couple of days later, they messaged me to say they had fallen in love with this much bigger painting, Porthmeor Winter Swim 150 x 200cm

They love the sea in Cornwall and told me how much it meant to them, it was also their first painting.

So why not go big?

The challenge was getting the painting back to Austria in their camper van. So I carefully removed it from the stretcher bars, rolled it paint side out around a strong cardboard tube and packed it well for the journey.

And then there they were carrying it past Porthmeor beach, the place that inspired the painting.

From St Ives to Austria and hopefully a lifetime of memories of the Cornish sea 🌊

A huge thank you to both of you 🙏 and I can’t wait to see it in its new home 🩵 by @heathermcalpineart

10 years ago I left Vancouver with my teenager, single, no plan, knew no one here but had a feeling St Ives would be great for a fresh start

With the sea and its history of artists I thought I could find my community here, I had only visited for a single day so it was a bit of a risk

It was a struggle and I didn’t paint for two years, then the sea! I started swimming year round and slowly started painting again, in my shed

I joined two art societies, went to open studios, found a studio in Whites Old Workshops, 2 minutes away from the beach

A decade on I am a full time artist, year round swimmer and part of the incredible art community here in St Ives, living a life shaped by art and the sea and known as the ‘Scottish artist who paints the sea’

So grateful ☺️

#artistslife #stives #stivesart #freshstart by @heathermcalpineart

My largest painting ‘by the Sea Porthmeor 1’

1.7 x 2m

The feature painting of my solo exhibition at the Crypt Gallery in St Ives, Cornwall.

I took it for an outing to the beach and was lucky it wasn’t windy or raining.

Now it’s safely in the gallery until Friday 17th

#stivescornwall #stivessocietyofartists @stivessociety #stiveslocal #inspiredbythesea #largescaleart #largescalepainting #artforinteriordesigners #largepainting #thesea #porthmeorbeach #originalartworks #artforcomercialspaces by @heathermcalpineart

A lovely couple from Bristol had been looking for the right painting for a few years when they discovered my studio during a visit to St Ives last week.

They went home, measured up their space and had a look at my website.

‘Waters Edge’ 81 x 187 cm

They decided it was just the right painting for their home and purchased it directly from my website.

I’m absolutely thrilled! It’s a lovely long painting full of texture, colour and movement and I can’t wait to see it in its new home.

I’ll be arranging for an art courier to deliver it safely to Bristol. Thank you both for choosing my work. I hope you enjoy living with it 🙏

#artforyourwalls #artforthesoul #paintingthesea #stivesartists stivescornwall by @heathermcalpineart

A little trip to Dartmoor for some late October swims and a lovely sauna at @wilder.sauna

It’s so different from the sea and a bit colder I think. I couldn’t confirm the water temperature.

A swim at Hexworthy bridge and a sauna and dip at the Wilder sauna at Mill End Hotel, with a dip in the Dart, not deep enough to swim but really cool in the forest with the autumn leaves all around.

#artistslife #dartmoor #wildswimming #inspiration by @heathermcalpineart

The sea is never quite the same twice. 🌊

Heather McAlpine’s paintings capture that sense of constant change - the shifting light, movement and atmosphere of the coastline translated into colour, texture and gesture.

Scottish-born and now based in St Ives, Heather has spent much of her career responding to the landscapes around her. Time in Vancouver brought the wild Pacific coastline, glacial lakes and distant horizons into her work, while returning to Cornwall in 2015 introduced a different relationship with the sea.

Working primarily in acrylic, Heather builds her paintings through layers of colour and repeated reworking. Brushes, rollers and squeegees are used to add, remove and reveal marks, creating surfaces that feel fluid and constantly in motion.
Her approach sits somewhere between landscape and abstraction. Rather than describing a particular view, the paintings are shaped by memory - by the feeling of being surrounded by water, changing weather and shifting horizons.

Wild swimming has become an important part of this process. Being in the sea throughout the year gives Heather a direct connection to the colours, light and conditions that later find their way into the studio.

Even the Scottish word haar - the coastal mist that can soften the landscape around St Ives - has found a place within her visual language.
The result is painting that feels less like a picture of the sea and more like an experience of being there.

Now available via Artisan Collective
▪️ @artisancollectiveltd
▪️ @heathermcalpineart

#ContemporaryPainting #AbstractLandscape #AcrylicPainting #BritishArtist #StIvesArt #ArtCollectors
Heather McAlpine, contemporary painting, abstract landscape, acrylic painting, Scottish artist, St Ives artist, Cornish coastline, seascape art, atmospheric painting, sea inspired art by @heathermcalpineart

Swimming in the sea is a big part of my life in St Ives and a constant source of inspiration for my paintings.

The movement, textures and ever changing colours of the sea find their way onto my canvas , layers of blues, aquamarine and the shifting times of the Cornish coast .

The sea is my inspiration the canvas is where it happens.

Could you imagine living with these colours every day?

#coastalinteriors #seainspired #stivesartist #stivesart by @heathermcalpineart

Two reasons to visit St Ives today!

It’s the last day of the Newlyn Society Society’s Autumn exhibition at the Penwith Gallery. 54 NSA members showing.

And over in the Tate St Ives there’s a new exhibition by the Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, I just loved her early painting of the Penwith Gallery.

Great opening last night @tatestives

Thanks to Chair @seamus7160 and the @nsanewlyn for all your hard work.

And a big thank you to Julia and her team at the @penwithgallery

#stivesart #stivescornwall #tatestives #gallery #stivesartist by @heathermcalpineart

An hour watching the sea after the storm this morning.

The power of the waves, the movement, the colours constantly changing.

These are the moments that stay with me when I return to the studio. I work with the memories & emotions of being by the sea and in the sea, bringing that energy into my large scale paintings.

I’m not painting the view but capturing the feeling of the sea.

‘Sand & Sea Porthmeor’
93 x 93 cm
My painting in the Newlyn Society of Artists Autumn Exhibition at the Penwith Gallery, St Ives.

Final day Sat 24th October 5pm
@nsanewlyn @penwithgallery

#coastalliving #stivescornwall #coloursofcornwall #thesea by @heathermcalpineart

Endless inspiration from Porthmeor beach, a couple of days ago the light was just fantastic, the colours and contrasts!

#thesea #stivescornwall #stivesartists #coastal by @heathermcalpineart

It’s the final week!

Take a look around the Newyln Society of Artists’ Autumn Exhibition at the Penwith Gallery, St Ives

An eclectic mix of work by 54 NSA members, showcasing a wonderful variety of styles, ideas and approaches

Don’t miss it! The exhibition closes this Saturday , 24th Oct 5pm

Penwith Gallery St Ives @penwithgallery
@nsanewlyn

#stivescornwall #artexhibitions #gallery #contemporaryart by @heathermcalpineart

What a stunning day for a dip in the Godrevy sea pool! So please to finally make it there! It won’t be my last visit for sure! And we had it to ourselves @heathermcalpineart which was amazing 💙 by @heathermcalpineart