Beach Series 2008 – 2018   

All Summer Long

 

The beach is the ultimate threshold. It takes us to the edge of our natural habitat, leaving us on the brink of something so vast and mysterious that the imagination immediately sets sail.

-Robert Rosenblum (1)

 

Looking at the larger beach scenes by Annabelle Shelton we encounter very quickly an unsettling paradox between the beach as an endless and timeless space, and the detailed minutia of the many individuals choreographed across the surface of the work.

 

Shelton’s work focuses upon the beach as a destination that continually draws large crowds of sun-worshipers, families on their annual holidays and seasonal tourists. The beach in her paintings becomes an indefinable landscape as it is systematically transposed into a white neutral space. The effect of this is to highlight the occupants of these spaces as an interconnecting landscape of figures; the elbows of sunbathers connect with the heel of a woman offering a beach ball to her small son, who’s blond hair in turn connects with another family group.  Each individual develops a micro narrative to create its own separate story.  But each ‘atom’ of the tale contributes directly to the overall composition of the work.

Tide has turned
1m x 1m Watercolour on Aluminium
2009 *SOLD
Shoreline
1m x 1m Watercolour on Aluminium
2009
Populated Beach
1.24 m x 0.84m Watercolour on Aluminium
2010 *SOLD
Marsielle Beach
1.24 m x 0.84m Watercolour on Aluminium
2010
Floating Beach
124 cm x 84cm Watercolour on Aluminium
2013
Crocodile Beach
124 cm x 84cm Watercolour on Aluminium
2010 *SOLD
Confetti Beach
110cm x 110cm Watercolour on Aluminium
2012
Beach Strip
120cm x 120cm Watercolour on Aluminium
2010
Beach Escape
120cm x 120cm Watercolour on Aluminium
2014
Beach 7
124 cm x 84cm Watercolour on Aluminium
2011 *SOLD
Bay Beach
120cm x 120cm Watercolour on Aluminium
2010 *SOLD
Knot Beach
110cm x 110cm Watercolour on Aluminium
2010 *SOLD
Arc Beach
110cm x 110cm Watercolour on Aluminium
2010
Spotted Umbrella
120cm x 80cm
Watercolour on Aluminium 2011
Sunglasses Beach
120cm x 80cm
Watercolour on Aluminium 2011
Beach Tide
100cm x 100cm
Watercolour on Aluminium 2016
Dragon Beach 2011
100cm x 100cm
Watercolour on Aluminium
*SOLD
Beach Curve 2017 (temporary image)
100cm x 100cm
Watercolour on Aluminium
Cola Beach 2017 (temporary Image)
120cm x 120cm
Watercolour on Aluminium
Beach Curve 2 2018
120cm x 84cm
Watercolour on Aluminium
Invitation Beach 2018
120cm x 84cm
Watercolour on Aluminium

Works ( The Playing Field 2015 -)   

‘The Playing field’ is a body of work that evolved from my residency at Aberystwyth Art Centre in 2010.  The Playing field is a stage where many activities take place from leisure to pleasure to sports to country fayres to fairs and school sports days.  The Playing field is an accumulation of drawings, paintings and photographs of interventions, appropriations and amusement.  As an adult I revisit sites of play and make my own mark, children make their own mark and on occasions authorities intervene.  In the main my work is essentially about psychodynamics of space and how we function taking an objective look at place – the difference with the Playing field, to that of the beach and the city – is that an internal space is operating coinciding with the physical space that opens up another dialogue.

When the Balls Keep coming..
Watercolour on Aluminium 2015
Considerate Landing
Watercolour on Aluminium 2015
Shepherds Crook
Watercolour on Aluminium 2015
Running Track
Watercolour on Aluminium 2015
Goal Inception 2
Watercolour on Aluminium 2015

Piccadilly Series 2006-2015   

Piccadilly Crossover
76cm x 53cm, Graphite on Aluminium
2006 *SOLD
Piccadilly IV
120cm x 80cm, Graphite on Aluminium
2006 *SOLD
Piccadilly X
120cm x 80cm, Graphite on Aluminium
2006 *SOLD
Piccadilly VIII
120cm x 80cm, Graphite on Aluminium
2006 *SOLD
Piccadilly XI
76cm x 53cm, Graphite on Aluminium
2006 *SOLD
Trafalgar Embrace
76cm x 53cm, Graphite on Aluminium
2006 *SOLD
Piccadilly VII Commission
120cm x 160cm, Graphite on Aluminium
2015 *SOLD
Piccadilly 9
120cm x 80cm Graphite on Aluminium
*SOLD

Helter Skelter Series   

Helter Skelter 2
124 cm x 84cm, Coloured Pencil
2008
Helter Skelter Runway
76 cm x 53cm, Coloured Pencil
2009
Helter Skelter 3
124 cm x 84cm, Coloured Pencil
2009
Helter Skelter 1
124 cm x 84cm, Coloured Pencil
2006
Black Holes @ Weymouth 2013
56cm x 73cm Watercolour on Aluminium
Amusement 2011
120cm x 84cm Watercolour on Aluminium
The Misfortune and fortune of shifting sands 2013
120cm x 84cm Watercolour on Aluminium

Odda 2004 (photographic project)   

Caption 1: Name of Piece
20cm x 100, Print on silver foil / aluminium
2004
Caption 1: Name of Piece
20cm x 100, Print on silver foil / aluminium
2004
Caption 1: Name of Piece
20cm x 100, Print on silver foil / aluminium
2004
Caption 1: Name of Piece
20cm x 100, Print on silver foil / aluminium
2004
Caption 1: Name of Piece
20cm x 100, Print on silver foil / aluminium
2004

Northampton Station Site Specific Photographic Project 2006   

Coffee Area
250cm x 200cm, Banner Print
2006
Police Incident Room
20cm x 30cm , Silverfoil Print
2006
Telescreen
15cm x 10cm, Silverfoil Print
2006
Caption 1: Name of Piece
80cm x 100cm, Silverfoil Print
2006

Yellow Line 2006 (Photographic Project)   

Yellow Line
20cm x 250cm , Silverfoil Print
2006

All Summer Long   

All Summer Long  ( excerpt ) by David Rayson RCA

 The beach is the ultimate threshold. It takes us to the edge of our natural habitat, leaving us on the brink of something so vast and mysterious that the imagination immediately sets sail.

-Robert Rosenblum (1)

Looking at the larger beach scenes by Annabelle Shelton we encounter very quickly an unsettling paradox between the beach as an endless and timeless space, and the detailed minutia of the many individuals choreographed across the surface of the work.

Shelton’s work focuses upon the beach as a destination that continually draws large crowds of sun-worshipers, families on their annual holidays and seasonal tourists. The beach in her paintings becomes an indefinable landscape as it is systematically transposed into a white neutral space. The effect of this is to highlight the occupants of these spaces as an interconnecting landscape of figures; the elbows of sunbathers connect with the heel of a woman offering a beach ball to her small son, who’s blond hair in turn connects with another family group.  Each individual develops a micro narrative to create its own separate story.  But each ‘atom’ of the tale contributes directly to the overall composition of the work.

All Summer Long ( excerpt ) by David Rayson RCA

The beach is the ultimate threshold. It takes us to the edge of our natural habitat, leaving us on the brink of something so vast and mysterious that the imagination immediately sets sail.

-Robert Rosenblum (1)