Biography for Arabella Shand

About Arabella Shand — Paintings & Exhibition Overview

Arabella Shand is a British painter whose work moves between the everyday and the dreamlike, drawing deeply on the landscape and rhythms of her life in rural Wales. Her paintings often begin with familiar moments — walking old drovers’ paths, sharing tea with a neighbour, glimpsing a white farmhouse through branches — yet they carry a quiet sense of enchantment, filled with symbolic imagery and a subtle, poetic atmosphere.

About the Art

Shand’s compositions frequently feature figures, animals and domestic interiors, all illuminated by her remarkable sensitivity to light, colour and mood. Owls appear as hovering presences, trees gather protectively around sleeping figures, and ordinary rituals take on a luminous, almost mythical quality. Her work is defined by the way she binds these worlds together through the expressive possibilities of paint.

Her paintings are known for capturing the warmth and charm of nature and the everyday in glorious colours. She enjoys creating a subtle narrative with of still life and landscape, birds, gardening each with a patchwork or delicious colour.

Arabella Shand — Background

Arabella Shand studied at Colchester Institute (1983–84), followed by Kingston Polytechnic and the City & Guilds of London Art School (1986–88).
Over the past 30 years she has exhibited widely, including at:

Decorative Arts, London

Bonhams Contemporary Decorative Arts, London

Seven Dials Gallery, London

Cadogan Contemporary

Lavenham

Clarendon Gallery, London

Recent exhibitions include:
Hintlesham Hall with Cobold & Judd Fine Art (Ipswich) and The Platform Gallery (Mistley).

You can also watch an interview with the artist from her studio in Wales, recorded with Hayletts Gallery.