Gill Bustamante's Gallery Back

40x40x1.5 inches Monarchs of Spring is a large original oil painting on deep edge canvas with white edges. The monarchs are two red deer, a stag and a doe, who stand in the middle of a spring meadow full of white lacy flowers. Behind them is a tantalizing view of a field seen through the trees of yellow rapeseed flowers and glimpses of this yellow can be seen in a horizontal line all through the painting behind the deer. This was done for the very good reason that I like yellow and love seeing fields full of yellow flowers in Spring and summer. This painting was originally simply a landscape that I painted in May 2018 having been on a walk near Wadhurst in East Sussex through the deer park of a stately home there. I had wanted to reflect the abundance of the wildflowers and trees in meadows all over England during my favourite month. However when I looked at the painting later I realized I needed to add two of the deer. The painting is semi abstract, slightly art nouveau in style and is painted in muted tones of greens, lilacs, yellows and white.

Enchanted is a summer landscape with a white owl 40x40x1.5 inches large original oil painting on canvas. The painting shows a verdant summer meadow with lots of wildflowers and grasses next to a river that leads off into the distance with trees and low hills in the background. On the left, a white owl is swooping down towards the river with a gold curtain behind her. The colours are very vibrant and was inspired by a walk I took near Cooksbridge in Sussex along the river Ouse with the hills of the South Downs in the background. It was a warm day and pink and yellow flowers grew along the river bank. I could hear sheep, insects and wild birds who all added to the hum and haze of a perfect English summer day. It felt magical so I enhanced that further by adding a white owl which always look perfectly ethereal wherever they are. It is painted in an unusual painting style that sees many overlapping glazes and brush strokes that rise vertically off the top of the canvas. It is painted on wide edge canvas, white edges, frame unnecessary, ready to hang.

White Harts Summer Valley is a 30x40x1.5 inches original oil on canvas of a summer wildflower meadow with a white hart. The white hart (albino deer stag), looks out over his summer valley from behind an art nouveau style abundance of poppies and other wildflowers. To his right is a valley that hints at a lake below and trees shimmering in the background. I painted this in December in England as I needed a reminder of the gorgeous proliferation of the flora and fauna of summer. The white stag is a reminder of one I saw years ago in a red deer herd from the Bluebell Railway train line in Sussex. It is always magical to see deer but a white deer is even more so. I would love to see him again but can meanwhile paint him and make him real that way. The edges are white and the canvas is deep edge so frame not needed.

Bluebell symphony is very large original oil painting on canvas (48x48 inches) of a Spring woodland painted in a semi abstract, impressionist style. As it is a large painting, it gives the viewer the feeling that they can walk into this golden Spring wood with its bluebells and wildflowers and green trees and follow the sunlight path out to the fields beyond. A glowing yellow stag can be seen near the path looking at us imperiously as stags do. He is a guide to somewhere wonderful but is assessing our intentions before he leads us forward. In the foreground to the left is a large tree which sets the perspective for the rest of the painting. The bluebell flowers and leaves are painted in a semi abstract style which by their colours and positions hint at what they are but in an ambiguous way. This is because when I painted this it was from memory and I remember impressions and colours and motions but not details. I like it this way as it gives a transient feel which is what I wanted to capture here as that is what bluebell season is. For many people it is their favourite season (including mine) and I am happy to have painted a place where I can escape to a Spring woodland among the trees and flowers whenever I have had enough of an English winter... It is 1.5 inches think, edges white, frame not necessary, ready to hang.

30x40x1.5 inches red forest calls is a red oil painting made in a variety of rich reds, crimson, scarlet, yellow and purple. It is painted in art nouveau slightly abstract style and shows a red deer stag deep in a red forest while above and behind him some female deer call to him from the edge of the trees. There is a tentative message in this - females being the voice of reason when males get riled up maybe? but mostly it was painted because I love deer, I love red and I love deep dark forests. It is painted on deep edge canvas and the edges are also red. Framing not necessary.

A 30x30 woodland path abstract landscape painting in rainbow colours. This painting was painted after a walk I took near Glyndebourne in East Sussex. It was a beautiful clear autumn day and the path was lined with trees glowing yellow, red, purple and green in the low autumn sun. This path led up to a steeper path that eventually goes to the top of the South Downs. I tried to capture my impression of the place in an abstract, possibly expressionist style using very thick wet oil paint and I worked into (wet into wet) over the course of two days. I wanted to capture the low angle of the sun and the impression of the light through the leaves picking out glimpses of ivy on the ancient trees, ferns and leaves in autumn golds and greens. I was very pleased with the result as it gives a satisfying flavour of the scene and how I felt being there rather than trying to be traditionally realistic. I love paths such as these as I always imagine something fantastic being about to be discovered just around the corner. Sometimes I am rewarded with a glimpse of a deer or fox but usually a view through trees to another world keeps me very happy.

Lost in the light is a 40x40x1.5 inches large semi abstract oil painting in golden yellow and purple showing stags and deer in the light of a sunset. A herd of deer stand silhouetted in a forest clearing where golden autumn light shines through the trees behind them distorting their shapes. It is more abstract than my usual style but I quite like it as it was a good capture of how things actually look to me when I take my glasses off. I like the fact that I can still recognize what I am seeing but it is blurred and shimmering and more other worldly somehow. This painting was a bit of a wrestling match as has been over painted a few times in my quest to get it how I wanted it. However, this means it has lots of lovely thick paint and texture and has given it a presence it would not have had otherwise! It is painted on deep edge canvas, white edges, ready to hang.

A 30x40 inches original oil painting of an abstract woodland landscape in Spring with bluebells and a dryad. This painting is art nouveau and semi abstract and it shows a dryad (tree spirit) emerging from her tree so that she can attend to bluebells in her woodland garden. The colours range from deep purple through to cool blues, greens, magenta and golden yellow. I have used golden yellow in to give the idea of light glinting off of the trees and flowers in small beams of light. My aim was to catch a bit of the essence of the colours and light through trees that you get in a Spring woodland and to show the colours and exuberance of a bluebell wood but as an impression rather than making a botanical study. The dryad was added in later because I rarely paint people so thought I would make an exception. I spend alot of time walking in woods and forests around Kent and Sussex and I am fascinated by the atmosphere you get in them. Some woodland is welcoming, some can be sinister and I always feel as if I being observed so why not by dryads as well as the birds and foxes and wildlife?... Painted on deep edge canvas, white edges, no frame needed.

A 40x40x1.5 inches under the ocean painting with fish. In this underwater seascape, the fish are gold and grey lilac striped angelfish which although are fresh water fish usually, have found a way to live happily in my ocean of saltwater. The water above the fish is turquoise and blue and sparkling and you can see the surface of the water from below it rippling gently under the sun as a Caribbean sea does. On the lower lower part of the sea surface you can see sparkles of light and the reflections of the colours of the fish. The fish are swimming in formation (I do love the Red Arrows) and their delicate fins and tails overlap and coordinate with each other in a dance that could not be done without liberal artistic licence (I love that too). Behind the angels is a blue backdrop of deep blue water and below them you can see the sandy pinkish seabed with light patterns dancing over it cast from the waves above. Finally, although not too obvious in the photos, there is a line of soft violet that runs between the receding sea bed and the deep water in the distance. This line glows in certain light and looks fabulous with the aqua colours of the sea. This is a another in a series of under the ocean paintings featuring fish that I have been making since some Caribbean holidays taken a few years ago. I spent most of my time snorkling and observing water and light and patterns as well as the sea life below. I sometimes paint tropical fish in my seascapes but also, as here, place freshwater fish in them. I like the idea that they could have this much space which they do not really have in aquariums. Painted on deep edge canvas with edges painting white. No frame needed.

30 x 30 x 1.5 inches semi abstract landscape painting of two deer in an an autumn wood. The background of this autumn inspired landscape was painted in a loose, abstract style with a few trees and leaves hinted at and the idea of golden light coming through trees. Some of the beams of light shine onto a clearing where a red deer stag and a doe have just appeared. I wanted to try and recreate the ethereal nature of deer as well as the experience of a walk in an autumn forest. It is something many people love to do as there is an atmosphere under trees that is both reassuring and a little melancholy in the autumn. Around the deer I used some bright gold yellow which adds to the magical element of the painting. The colours are warm and autumnal and are reflecting what I see around me right now in the Ashdown Forest area of Sussex (October 2018). Painted on deep edge canvas - edges white, no frame needed.