Art Works: Anna Wheelhouse's The Fair at Stanley Road

I reckon this piece is a good representation of my style. The Fair at Stanley Road is acrylic on canvas and is approximately 120cm x 80cm. It’s a private commission of Stanley Road in Forest Fields; one of my favourite areas to paint with its terraced streets and buildings that are full of character. The customer I created it for used to live there and wanted memories of the house where her son was born. One of her favourite things about living there was seeing the ferris wheel at the bottom of the street during Goose Fair.

The painting took about four full days to complete due to the size and detail in the perspective. My painting work is mainly based on urban landscapes and architecture; I find perspective fascinating and have always loved the industrial architecture in Nottingham. Plus, I love to use bright colours to add life to areas that some may see as dull or uninteresting.

I began painting the houses and terraced streets in Nottingham in my early twenties, and began a love affair with buildings. At the time, I was a single mum to a child under five and it was more of a hobby. Then, when Elle started school, I decided to go back to university to further my artwork, studying Decorative Arts at Nottingham Trent. I always enjoyed working with stained glass, so specialised in glass and metalwork using architecture as my inspiration. I started to create blown-glass pieces with the Lumsdale Glass Blowers, of which I am still an associate.

After leaving university, I began working as a community artist, producing large public installations and murals, and started up an arts-based youth project with two friends. The Area Inbetween Youth Arts Organisation provides specialised art workshops in schools, youth centres and at festivals. I split my time between working part-time, running workshops for young people and working as a freelance artist at Bentinck Art Studios.

I now spend my time working on glass-lighting projects, blown-glass work, murals, canvases and community artwork, so rarely stick to one medium. Given more time and the funds to do it, I would love to do a big exhibition on Goose Fair. I’ve been taking photographs of the fair with the intention of doing this, and dream of creating a series of huge paintings with other artists and photographers.

Anna’s latest lighting commission is the large chandelier upstairs in the Angel Microbrewery, and her mural work can be seen on Bath Street in St Ann’s, behind Victoria Baths.

Anna Wheelhouse website