Born in 1967, Oona Campbell studied Visual and Performing Arts at Brighton University. Oona lived in and painted the rugged wild landscape of Yorkshire for several years, and she describes her experiences as such…

"Living in the Yorkshire Dales for the last four years and experiencing their dramatic ancient landscapes of Coverdale, Swaledale, Wensleydale and Richmondshire have brought new, thought provoking, ideas into my paintings. During these years I have painted the seasonal drama in this often remote countryside: depicting the turning of the wild purple heather clad moors during the middle of August, the extraordinary abundance of summer wild flowers, the first poppies and the inescapable harsh blizzards of winter snow. These atmospheric places encompass the arrival of the Curlews and their distinctive haunting call which resonates clearly over the lands inspiring my first thoughts for paintings. The ever-present stone walls are a constant element in my Yorkshire paintings and emphasise how parts of the landscape has not changed since medieval times and some of these tumbled down field boundaries date back to late prehistoric preserving Romano–British field systems. The irregularity of the stone walls and their moss covered and lichen-encrusted appearance give them a look of having grown organically from the landscape over centuries–all wonderful to paint as no two are the same!

During her time in Yorkshire, she still visited the West Coast of Scotland including the Isle of Mull, Kentra Bay, Ardnamurchan, Jura, and Arygllshire. Since then she has returned to Scotland, where she now lives and works.

Oona’s confident painting style and potent palette captures the dramatic changing weather and light conditions of the stunning wind-swept Scottish landscape and coastline which are her inspiration. Her enchanting landscapes vividly capture rolling clouds, rumbling waves, windy boats, crumbling walls and colourful wild flower carpets. The layered encrusted paint surfaces and rich palette of Oona’s work evidence her keen observation of the landscapes in which she lives and walks, whilst also being imbued with the personal feelings, memories and emotions that her subjects conjure in her heart.

She says of her approach to painting ‘My paintings are memories and observations of seasonal changes in unspoilt landscapes and shores that I have lived or know well. They encompass the rugged West Coast of Scotland, pastoral Dorset and the wild moors of North Yorkshire. These characterful and uplifting places I never tire of painting.

The days start with taking my dogs for a rambling walk bringing together my painting thoughts and ideas. Over the last 17 years I have been lucky enough to live in an unspoilt rural landscape observing the dynamism of the changing seasons. My paintings are memories, thoughts and observations transformed into paintings of places. The more I know a place, a particular dog walk, or view point, the more I find to paint. Painting from memory and observing closely with what’s around me is the essence of how I start and end the paintings. Painting by the memory of favourite haunts gives the paintings a sense of freedom without boundaries. Although, some of the paintings do start off with initial work from site sketches/paintings and then finished back in the studio. Some of these paintings often feel like they have captured that moment of when the sea or sky is changing or about to change and move to the next storm or ray of sunlight.

Oona’s work can be found in many public and private collections.