A NEW art exhibition at a village gallery starts today.

The Wonky Wheel Gallery in Finchingfield is set to hold a new exhibition which showcases the work of landscape artist Clare Wilde.

Clare’s paintings are of the Essex landscape, areas she fears are being lost through the constant building of housing, roads and sprawling infrastructure.

Clare deliberately works on a small scale to ask people to draw their attention into quiet, dream-like vistas.

Her work may first appear relatively empty but if you take the time you can see they are filled with detail and colour.

Clare, from Thaxted, said: “I spend a great deal of time outside and every day I see a thousand paintings in the changing shape and light of one cloud, casting shadows on the meadow below, the light in a puddle with birds’ footprints in the mud beneath, in a field that once had a name, the kaleidoscopic colours of a single tree.

“One star in the early night sky, the wrinkled bark of our ancient boundary oaks, the gentle mists and fog with its land-enfolding shifts and drifts.

“I am constantly aware of how connected I am to the land, and how insignificant.

“If I spend the rest of my life painting, I will never have time to come close to trying to evoke the beauty around me.”

She added: “I rarely show my work publicly, tending to work quietly and alone, selling to a growing group of collectors.

“My work is held in collections across the UK as well as in France, South Africa, across the USA and in Canada and Australia.”

A launch event took place on Friday (October 8) from 6.30pm to 8.30pm.

Visitors met Clare and talked about her work over a glass of wine.

The full exhibition starts today (October 9) and will run until Sunday, November 7.