About
Valerie Alexander N.D.D. S.F.P. R.B.S.A. B.W.S.
Valerie trained at the Fine Art Department, King's University, Newcastle on Tyne and at Birmingham College of Art. During her studies her work attracted a series of awards at both local and national level. In her final student year she entered her first international competition and was awarded both first and second prize, which enabled her to study art and design in Italy on a Travelling Scholarship.
After some years working as a free-lance artist, she took up a full-time career in Art Education, teaching and lecturing in Secondary and Further Education posts in Buckinghamshire and then in Shropshire. During this period she continued to paint and to sell water-colours in her spare time, and to take on free-lance design commissions. She was the Publicity Designer for Ludlow Festival for twelve years.
In 1995 she took early retirement from teaching in order to concentrate fully on her own painting. She works mostly in water-colour and acrylic inks, sometimes in pastel, to paint her own individual interpretation of the natural world, whether it be in the form of a landscape, or a floral composition."It is the light falling on a subject that transforms it, and it is the fascination of trying to capture and convey the effects of light that is the stimulus and mainspring of my work".
Her work has been included in two national touring exhibitions, and has been on show in London at the Royal College of Art.
She exhibits widely, being involved each year in several exhibitions throughout the U.K. She is also in regular demand to provide workshops and demonstrations for art societies around the West Midlands, including the R.B.S.A.
She has twice received a 'Highly Commended' in the professional section of the national painting competition run by the Patchings Art Centre, and her work has been put on their website. She received international publicity when she was a Finalist in a competition run by the 'International Artist' magazine. As a result of this she was invited to contribute an article to the book "How Did You Paint That? 100 Ways to Paint Landscapes".
2008; elected as Member of the Society of Floral Painters. (This society sadly closed in December 2016)
2011; elected as member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists.
2013; elected as member of the Birmingham Watercolour Society.
After some years working as a free-lance artist, she took up a full-time career in Art Education, teaching and lecturing in Secondary and Further Education posts in Buckinghamshire and then in Shropshire. During this period she continued to paint and to sell water-colours in her spare time, and to take on free-lance design commissions. She was the Publicity Designer for Ludlow Festival for twelve years.
In 1995 she took early retirement from teaching in order to concentrate fully on her own painting. She works mostly in water-colour and acrylic inks, sometimes in pastel, to paint her own individual interpretation of the natural world, whether it be in the form of a landscape, or a floral composition."It is the light falling on a subject that transforms it, and it is the fascination of trying to capture and convey the effects of light that is the stimulus and mainspring of my work".
Her work has been included in two national touring exhibitions, and has been on show in London at the Royal College of Art.
She exhibits widely, being involved each year in several exhibitions throughout the U.K. She is also in regular demand to provide workshops and demonstrations for art societies around the West Midlands, including the R.B.S.A.
She has twice received a 'Highly Commended' in the professional section of the national painting competition run by the Patchings Art Centre, and her work has been put on their website. She received international publicity when she was a Finalist in a competition run by the 'International Artist' magazine. As a result of this she was invited to contribute an article to the book "How Did You Paint That? 100 Ways to Paint Landscapes".
2008; elected as Member of the Society of Floral Painters. (This society sadly closed in December 2016)
2011; elected as member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists.
2013; elected as member of the Birmingham Watercolour Society.
