About us
Liz Clarke... is a mixed media artist whose work is characterised by strong, vibrant colours. She paints a wide variety of subjects, including flowers, foliage, birds, animals, landscapes and mystical themes. She is fascinated by bare trees and veins on leaves. Angels also appear in her paintings from time to time.
Liz only started painting seriously in 2003, after a gap of about 30 years when she had proper jobs and no time to paint! Although she studied Art as part of her teacher training, her student years were mainly focused on textile art and modern embroidery. Interestingly, some of her paintings are sometimes mistaken for needlework.
Dave Marsh... has drawn and painted as a hobby for most of his life but became a professional artist after he met Liz in 2004. In the past, he was best known as a pen and ink artist and many of his drawings of Yorkshire and Cumbria were published in the Dalesman and Cumbria magazines. He now works mainly in watercolour and gouache, often adding detail in pen and ink. He also works in pastels, usually for animal paintings. More recently, he has produced a number of paintings in a restricted palette of blues and greys. Dave sometimes undertakes animal commissions and pen and ink drawings of houses.
Liz and Dave discovered within the first two weeks of their relationship that they had both always wanted to make a living from art. To see if people liked their art, they started attending local art and craft fairs, with very positive results. In July 2005, they opened the gallery at Addingham Moorside. The building had been Dave's home for many years and was called "The Elm", so it was an obvious transition to call it "The Elm Gallery", though no-one knows whether there was ever an elm on that spot!