Mark Elsmore
Biography
Mark Elsmore was born in The Potteries, North Staffordshire, and has a six-generation family connection with the pottery industry. A self-taught artist, he has been painting professionally since 1994 and is based in the Staffordshire Moorlands. He has received numerous awards, including first prizes at the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition, Keele University Three Counties Open and Leamington Spa Art Gallery and Museum Open. His RI awards include the Frank Herring Easel Award in 2017, the Winsor & Newton Award in 2018, the Escoda Barcelona Award and John Purcell Paper Prize in 2022.
His paintings are held in private and public collections including the Grosvenor Museum & Art Gallery, Chester, Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Wirral, and Keele University. In 2022, he was invited to hold a solo exhibition, Every Picture..., at the Grosvenor Museum & Art Gallery. He was elected a Member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists in 2007 and a Member of the Wirral Society of Arts in 2004.
Artist Statement
My work is diverse in subject but recognisable in style. I seek to create memorable and meaningful images that stimulate interest beyond the painted surface.
From delicate ancient plasterwork to modernist concrete blocks, from historical to digital, my paintings celebrate interesting places and ordinary places made more interesting. I present extraordinary people with exciting lives, or people just living life.
Watercolour can be as fresh or as grubby as you need, and as considered or accidental as you wish. My watercolour style is not traditional; you will not see translucent washes, but I hope you will find beauty and a sense of purpose.
I work best when I have a reason to paint. If I can find or make up an accompanying story, all the better; it will keep me interested. I like to transform ‘the ordinary’ into ‘the epic’. The Potteries continue to fascinate me, but I’m not a slave to my locality. Hanley or Alderney, Burslem or Berlin, I’m searching for the story and a way to paint it.
A successful painting is an enduring painting. The completed work is never truly finished because the viewer continues to explore their own interpretation.