Colin Orchard - St Ives Observed

Colin Orchard is one of St Ives’ most respected resident artists, known primarily as a painter of interior scenes and the landscapes of Cornwall, East Anglia and Italy. His early work was strongly influenced by the Post-Impressionist paintings of Walter Sickert and Edouard Vuillard, and accordingly Colin’s paintings display an emphatic but impressionistic rendering of colour, light and shadow, and a subjective response to key elements within each of his beautiful compositions.

In 2015 we were privileged to host Colin’s celebratory 80th birthday exhibition and, in the spring of 2022, his very first collection of works inspired by the streets of St Ives. This exhibition is the second in his St Ives series and once again takes us through its pretty cobbled lanes, capturing unique views and intimate lines of sight with the affection and familiarity of an artist who has lived in the town for more than 40 years.

“In more than 30 years [Colin] has rarely put brush to canvas on the subject of St Ives. [His] paintings remind one of the days when its streets are empty of tourists, when the town returns to its residents and when, as many might feel, St Ives is at its best.”

Extract from arts writer Frank Ruhrmund’s ‘The Town is the Star of the Show’

He has exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions and at venues including Medici Galleries, Messum’s, Walker Galleries, Ainscough and the New Grafton Gallery.