Dorset born Simon Stooks trained at Shelley Park School of Art in Bournemouth and graduated from Falmouth School of Art in Cornwall. His work features evocative, semi-abstract landscapes and seascapes that are built around a subtle and sensitive use of colour.

Simon’s work has been exhibited widely, especially at the Mall Gallery and in Chancery Lane, London, Mayfield Gallery, Bournemouth and other galleries throughout the country. His work has also been shown in New England.

Whether stunning through a vibrant use of colour or peaceful through the use of dappled light and pale hues, Simon’s paintings convey a real understanding of the importance of creating an atmosphere and provoking mood through paint. This recent collection of work was undertaken while working from a studio at Marazion and the changing tides, weather and light and their effect on St. Michael’s Mount became his inspiration.

“Often working paintings in sets of two, my motivation for the first is predominantly one of intuitive exploration. I have a deep fascination with paint and continue to be attracted by the unbound possibilities exposed through the process of making paintings.

"The colour combinations, brushes and tools I select vary depending on the subject matter, weather conditions and my mood at any one moment. The second painting comes from the need to replicate consciously what I have previously discovered by chance or intuitive accident so as to store it in my expanding painting vocabulary, ready for use when confronted by an impass in some painting not yet started.”