About Gill Bustamante
Links
Education
1980 - 1983
Brighton Polytechnic
1979 - 1980
Chelsea Art Foundation
Awards
1962
General art awards
a) When I was 4 and in a convent school I won the ‘best painting of an angel’ competition. I won a handkerchief and a plastic flower.
b) When I was 9 I came first in a local painting competition for painting a picture of my house. It was a surprise as I had chucked it away a few weeks earlier when I got cross with it – not knowing my Dad had found it in the bin and entered into the competition. I still have the photo that was in the local paper of me looking simultaneously stupid, pleased and disgusted as the Mayor gave me my prize. I won a £5 book token.
c) When I was 11. I became the proud owner of a Blue Peter badge which I won for painting an underwater scene in a competition in 1979. I won a plastic badge with a boat on it.
d) When I was 37. I won an award for best wildlife painting in an on-line competition where people voted for best painting. I never got my prize as the website went down a week later.
e) When I was 48. I won first prize in the Danehill Art Fair. I won £250 (yay – an actual prize!)
That was possibly the best my illustrious competition winning career is going to get but at least I can genuinely call myself ’award winning’ – impressive eh?
Upcoming events
Event: Gill Bustamante Landscape, Seascape, Animal and Fish Paintings
Dates: 15 May 2019 - 31 Dec 2024
Invitations by appointment to view the paintings of Gill Bustamante at her home in Forest Row, East Sussex. Details at www (dot) gillbustamante.com
Biography
I am a professional artist based in Sussex and I paint large original landscape and seascape paintings in oil on canvas. I have a Fine Art degree in sculpture (Brighton, 1983) but am mostly self taught as a painter.
My painting style is a fusion of Expressionist, Impressionist, Semi-abstract, Art Deco, a little Art Nouveau and whatever mood I am in that day. I often practice a kind of Impressionism in that I walk, look at things and then paint from memory. The result is that I paint what was impressed upon me when I looked at a landscape - thus a kind of Impressionism!
I am inspired by the patterns of nature and the energy, colours and spaces of the landscapes and animals around me. I like to think that paintings have ‘little souls’ woven into them by artist’s and that these are what call to a viewer (or not as the case may be) and give a painting presence and desirability.
All of my paintings have a story added in to them - sometimes humorous, sometimes mystical, sometimes with a message of hope or encouragement.
My aim is to make art that offers a glimpse of spaces and possibilities where people can escape the manic pace of life and imagine themselves somewhere better – even if just for a little while.
