Colin Davies : Power and Serenity

Overview
Dancing Sunbeam- Bannau Brycheiniog
Dancing Sunbeam- Bannau Brycheiniog
Celebrating the raw power and quiet majesty of the Welsh landscape, this exhibition showcases Colin Davies’ dynamic  paintings pulsing with nature’s unpredictability.
Colin Davies captures both fury and peace—crashing seas and serene skies—through bold palette knife impasto and expressive brushwork.  His intuitive process begins with loose underpainting, building layers of thick texture to evoke movement and depth, then softening edges for tranquil contrast—a signature balance mirroring his homeland’s dual moods. Working primarily in oils and acrylics, Davies wields sweeping strokes and impasto to translate the noise of pounding water, gusting winds, and shifting light, prioritising atmospheric emotion over precise representation. Vibrant colours and tactile surfaces draw viewers into Wales’ elemental drama, with his canvases held in UK and international collections while he shares techniques through nationwide classes. Each piece becomes a portal to hours spent observing waves and mountains—a heartfelt tribute to the scenery that inspires him daily—blending scale, serenity, and intensity for an immersive encounter with the living spirit of Wales.
Works
Installation Views
Press release

WHERE THE LAND CARRIES US:

NEW WORKS BY COLIN DAVIES AND STEVE BROCKETT AT ORIEL CANFAS, CARDIGAN

Exhibition: Where the Land Carries Us
Artists: painters Colin Davies & Steve Brockett
Venue: Oriel Canfas, Cardigan
Dates: 2–30 May 2026
Drinks reception & Meet the Artists: Saturday 2 May, 1–3pm

As summer light lengthens over the hills of West Wales, Oriel Canfas is proud to present Where the Land Carries Us, two interconnected exhibitions bringing together the work of painters Colin Davies and Steve Brockett. Though distinct in their concerns—Davies summoning the raw elemental force of Wales itself, Brockett charting the quiet and complex bonds between living creatures and the landscapes they inhabit—their works meet in a shared conviction: that place is never merely a backdrop. It lives in us, shapes us, and asks something of us in return. Colin Davies paints Wales as it sounds and feels before it can be named, and where he works outward, Steve Brockett refelcts on his time spent living in Almeria and moves inward beyond the physical landscape into the complex terrain of our relations in the living world.

“We wanted to bring together two artists whose work, though very different in surface and subject, shares a deep attentiveness to what landscape does to us—not just what it looks like, but how it moves through us and what it asks us to carry.” — James Horan, Director, Oriel Canfas

Placed together at Oriel Canfas, these two bodies of work illuminate each other with unexpected force. Davies gives form to the outer weather of Wales—its drama, its grandeur, its relentless change—while Brockett attends to the inner weather it provokes: the way the land lodges in the body, in memory, in the bonds we form with the creatures who share it with us. One paints what the eye encounters; the other traces what the heart carries home.

Where the Land Carries Us offers visitors a layered encounter with Wales as both lived experience and living force—a place that endures not only in its stones and shorelines, but in the art, the bonds, and the inner lives it continues to inspire.

Oriel Canfas, at Manchester House, Grosvenor Hill, Cardigan SA43 1HY, welcomes visitors from near and far. The exhibition runs from 2 to 30 May 2026, with a drinks reception on Bank Holiday weekend Saturday 2 May, 1–3pm, offering a warm opportunity to meet both artists and celebrate this new chapter in the gallery's programme.

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