“I find that there is no substitute for direct observation. I paint best when I am immersed in the landscape that I am painting. There are colours and subtleties in nature that are so extraordinary that the human mind has little chance of recreating them in the studio. The direct effects of light and atmosphere can only ever be hinted at in a painting but there is a greater chance of capturing them if one is observing carefully from life.”

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Angie Spencer was born and grew up in Scarborough, North Yorkshire in 1959 and now lives in Stroud where she has her studio. She studied History of Art and French at Westfield College, London after completing 'O' level and 'A' level Art as a teenager. She would have preferred to have gone to art college after school and her art college ambitions were fulfilled as a mature student when she graduated with a BA in Fine Art at the University of Gloucestershire in 2004.

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Working ‘en plein air’ is an important part of her practice, and she draws inspiration from the Romantic painters and their approach to the landscape. Some paintings are completed outside, with the freshness of direct observation, and some are used as preliminary sketches for larger studio works.

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Classical music plays a big part in the studio practice where a specific piece will lend mood to work completed in the studio. Angie is an accomplished amateur violinist and classical music has always been very important to her.

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In 2015, whilst having violin lessons with the first violinist of the celebrated Carducci String Quartet, Angie completed a series of paintings in response to their new recording of Shostakovich's string quartets 4 and 8 and 12, and these paintings were exhibited alongside some of their award winning performances during their Shostakovich 15 project. At this time Angie also completed some larger paintings in response to the Philip Glass quartets recorded by the quartet.

 

Her practice moved more towards plein air painting during lockdown, when Angie began to paint the River Frome in Glucestershire on its 25 mile journey 'From Source to Severn'. This turned into a 3 year exploration, and the resulting 2 exhibitions were the subject of a 2023 feature in Cotswold Life written by the editor, Candia McKormack, entitled 'A Relationship with the River'. Read it here

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Angie has been invited to participate in residencies at the Old Parcels Office in Scarborough (2016), Cill Rialaig in Co. Kerry (2018), Hawkwood CFT (2020 and 21) and Painswick Rococo Gardens (2023-4). 

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Her painting 'Miserden Lake, July' was Longlisted for the Jackson's Art Prize in 2025.

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Her work has been shown in galleries around Gloucestershire including Hadfield Fine Art, Little Buckland Gallery, Spencer House Gallery and Aleph Contemporary, and the Corsham Gallery in Wiltshire.

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​As a violinist, Angie plays in the Stroud Symphony Orchestra (which she led between 2018 - 2025), as well as in the Capriol Chamber Orchestra  and in a string quartet.

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