Ruth Stage

Overview

Ruth Stage shows us the minutiae of the grand vista, a landscape of illumination, pattern, reflection and great distance. Working in egg tempera she creates a fluidity that reveals dramatic skies, mountain ranges, turbulent shallows. Superimposed onto this is the 'story of the day' be it figures on the beach, the first moment of spring, the remnants of a crop on a frosty morning. A limited palette gives an impression of the subtlety of nature, a cluster of almost indistinguishable greys punctuated with the cadmium of a leaf, transparent in the evening glare. From this complex formula the artist creates coherence, revealing harmony and balance without interruption.

Ruth works in the ancient medium of egg tempera on hand prepared gesso board. The tempera is an emulsion of egg yolk and distilled water and is mixed with mulled raw pigment. The gesso is made from glue size and chalk whiting all heated up on a stove (never boiled ) to the consistency of Yorkshire pudding mixture. Several layers are left to dry before being sanded and sealed with a final layer of glue size. Ruth draws on a wide variety of brushes as she paints, often choosing wide and flat brushes for early applications, then working towards pointed more Japanese style for final for final flurries. Her compositions are sourced in parks and coastal areas and captured with a sketch book and a camera.

Born in Hartlepool, Ruth studied at the Royal Academy Schools,graduating in 1995. In 1999 she was elected to the New English Art Club.

In February 2013 she won the £15,000 Lynn Painter-Stainers art prize for her work The Isabella Plantation.

Ruth's paintings can be found in many private and public collections including, the Charing Cross Hospital and Durham University.

Works