About My Work
You might know Haworth, in the Pennine hills of West Yorkshire. If you haven't been here yourself, you'll likely be aware of the wild moods of the famous landscape that was home to the Brontë sisters, Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath.
It’s a kind of in-between territory, valleys with vibrant and densely populated towns and cities climbing up steep, narrow roads to wide open moors, all connected by stone flagged packhorse trails, scrappy woodlands, and as a keen outdoor swimmer, I especially love the spatey, peaty rivers that swell dramatically, and roar fast through.
My paintings are a window on this unique place, which can be yours, wherever in the world you live.
Our landscape has such energy, a sharp edged beauty which you have to look for and be ready for, it can be very transient. I think growing up in a declining, post-industrial city, this search for beauty became part of my process by accident. I live for the fleeting moments, the unexpected light, and the things that unfold if you let yourself ‘be’ in a landscape, open to the fragments and details of the world happening around you. It's amazing here, and so unlikely, I want to share this romantic, grit-stone landscape with everyone.
I paint immersive paintings expressively in layers. Layers which echo the complex emotional and geological strata of places and experiences in this rugged edgeland where we are surrounded by remnants of the industrial revolution. Memory and intuition are at the heart of my work, and I spend a lot of time outside sketching and writing for the love of how it feels to be here, and to make a unique record of my experience. Ultimately I think this is what allows me to make a connection with others through painting.
After all, we might see different details in our surroundings, but we will all share similar moods.
About Me
I was born in Leeds and raised in Bradford. I trained in textile design at Bradford School of Art. I travelled a lot, then came back to Yorkshire to raise my children. I've worked at colleges as a lecturer in art and design, in a special needs school, as a florist, a library assistant, a textile designer and an illustrator.
There were a lot of years where I wasn't making much art, I was raising kids, and working full time at school. I had a mental breakdown in 2018 which sent me back to my paint for some relief. After this tentative re-entry into making art, I was encouraged to enter the Joan Day Painting Prize in 2019. I won, which meant my first solo exhibition, and some money to buy supplies, and most importantly, a new community of artists and creative people to be around.
I’ve been painting ever since, and have exhibited and sold work widely. I've also done a lot of teaching because I really love helping people to connect with and to make art!
Anji Timlin CV
Prizes
2019 Joan Day Painting Prize
2021 Jackson's Art Prize Longlist ‘Kisdon Gorge, Blazing’
2024 Jackson's Art Prize Finalist ‘Slow, Bright Immensity’ and ‘Midsummer Eve, Lumb Hole’
Exhibitions
2024
Royal Cambrian Academy, Conwy: Open Exhibition
St James Hospital Atrium, Leeds: Collective Creativity, a group show for the Let Us See You project, Aire Place Studios, group exhibition
Keld Institute, Swaledale Field Maps Project solo Exhibition
Coles Gallery, Leeds: Palestine Unveiled, group exhibition
Canal Connections, Leeds: Canal Connections, Stories from the Canal group exhibition
South Square Gallery, Thornton: West Yorkshire Through The Eyes Of Local Artists, group exhibition
The Great Yorkshire Show, Art Gallery Exhibition Hall, Harrogate group exhibition
Bankside Gallery, London: Jackson's Art Prize Finalists Exhibition 2024
Craven Arts, Skipton: Keighley Creative Artists Showcase group exhibition
Craft and Canvas Hebden Bridge, solo exhibition
Earlier Exhibitions
2023
Aire Place Studios Open: Win It!
Cole's Gallery, Leeds: Duddon! Group Exhibition
Smith Art Gallery, Brighouse: Calderdale Open
Seathwaite Parish Room, Seathwaite: Pop Up exhibition Duddon!
Dean Clough Crossley Gallery, Halifax: Leeds Fine Artists' Group 150th Anniversary Exhibition
2022
Dean Clough Showcase: Artists in Lockdown
Coles Gallery, Leeds: Solstice Landscapes
Leeds Playhouse: Leeds Summer Group Show
Open Gallery, Halifax: Reflection Group Show
Aire Place Studios Open: Win It!
Tebbs Gallery Online: Landscape
The Chapel Gallery, Ormskirk: From The Land, Contemporary Landscape Painting
Coles Gallery, Leeds: Remember November
2021
The Old School Gallery, Muker
Solo exhibition: The Untamed Dale
Slow Food Kitchen, Oakworth
Solo exhibition: Worth Valley Winter
The Dales Countryside Museum, Hawes
Video exhibition: Swaledale Views 3 X short films
2020
Saltaire Arts Trail (online: Covid)
2019
South Square Thornton
Solo exhibition: Joan Day Prize, Far Horizon Bound
Teaching
2021
2021 to present
Mondays
Art Classes at Morton Institute
October/November The Dales Countryside Museum, Hawes
Gouache Landscapes and museum fact files 3 x classes
2022
May
South Square Centre: Mindful May Gouache Landscape class
October/November
Cobbles and Clay, Haworth
Gouache Seasonal Landscapes 4 x classes
2023
March/April
Cobbles and Clay, Haworth
Gouache Seasonal Landscapes 4 x classes
May
South Square Centre: Mindful May Gouache Landscape class
July/August
Cobbles and Clay, Haworth
Gouache Seasonal Landscapes 4 x classes
October
Cobbles and Clay, Haworth
Gouache Seasonal Landscapes 4 x classes
December
South Square Centre: Wild Drawing Workshop, exploring local materials
Retreat Leader
2024
May
Zero Neuf, Gaudies, France
Art Retreat mixed media painting and journalling
Online classes
2020
May
South Square Centre: Mindful May Online Painting class
June -July
South Square Centre: Mindful Sketching in Lockdown: South Square Sketchers
6 weeks live Zoom course
2021
February
South Square Centre: Winter Landscapes
5 weeks live online Zoom course
July
Brooklyn Sketchbook Project: Landscape Painting with Gouache
Zoom class
July -August
The Dales Countryside Museum, Hawes
Ink and wash Swaledale drawing
3x live Instagram classes
Publications and Articles
Articles
2021
Yorkshire Art Magazine vol.2
Article: Meet The Artist
2022
Yorkshire Post:
Article: I'll Keep You Posted
2023
Yorkshire Post
Leeds Fine Artists Celebrate 150 Years
The Dalesman
Mapping the Fields of Upper Swaledale
Books
Brooklyn Sketchbook Project
Sketchbooks Of The World Vol. 1
Leeds Fine Artists
150th Anniversary
