Buckinghamshire Art Competition

New online gallery

Skills are excited to introduce the new online gallery shop as part of the website make over for 2018.  Now you won't have to worry about your favourite painting being purchased by another shopper and we are adding new pieces which have not yet been displayed in the High Street Gallery.  Now you can visit the shop anytime you like to view our latest collection.

Skills new floral art collection for Spring 2018

Skills and Primrose Gallery are proud to present this beautiful collection of fine art giclee prints by Buckinghamshire Artist and textile designer Nicky Hunter.   Taken from her original watercolours, Nicky works mainly in this medium along with ink to capture the vibrancy of flowers.  Working loosely and allowing the pigment and water flow to create translucent magic and intense contrasts are important to her.  Nicky works from still life mostly and en plein air when possible, enjoying the immediancy and unpredictability this approach has.
Nicky's many years working as a textile artist selling her floral print patterns to designers and brands internationally has led to a deep love of floral decoration.  The foundation of her skills often lies in botanical painting and drawing and explorative sketching and graphical work.

Nicky Hunter's limited edition prints are a series of 50 and are mounted and ready to frame.  Available in sizes 465 x 380mm at £69 and 590 x 465mm at £89, these are beautiful quality prints to brighten any home.   There are also greetings cards in this range.

To view Nicky Hunter's floral watercolours visit:-

Skills Art Materials and gallery 18 High Street Stony Stratford MK11 1AF

Primrose Gallery at 26 High Street, Thrapston, Northamptonshire NN14 4JH

Skills for artists and art lovers

Skills lives up to it’s name

• specialist artist materials
• specialist art and photography services
• an exceptional framing service
• highly experienced staff providing art valuation and restoration

We are passionate about encouraging your creative path whatever your age or stage in life.  We are proud to be one of Stony Stratford’s vibrant independent shops.  Skills stocks only authentic specialist art materials, which contain the high quality an artist deserves.  We also let customers try before you buy.  Why gamble with online purchases when you can confidently buy from Buckinghamshires only independent art shop.  In our company, we have no less than five artists and two photographers, because of this we understand your needs and ideas.  Stony makes a perfect summers day shopping without the hassle of crowds.

Pick n Mix of Fine Art ~ Which is your favourite?

The wind that blows the barley ~
Eleanor McGowan is a Scottish artist who works from her home in Largs, Ayrshire.  She is an elected member of the Paisley Arts Institute and Glasgow Society of Women Artists.  She is a regular exhibitor in many popular UK Galleries.

Shaggy Sheep and The Colonel ~
Lucy Pittaway studied Art & Design at college, before taking a place at Northumbria University to read Graphic Design where she developed her skills in digital art, photography and mixed media.
After graduating Lucy took a gap year and ran her own business in creative crafts, before pursuing a career in Graphic Design. After two years as a Graphic Designer she was offered a teaching role at the college where she had previously studied- she claims to have learnt as much during that period as she did whilst she was a student! Like many teachers she was given generous holidays and spent as much of that time as possible drawing and creating canvases that were sold to various clientelle in the Uk and Europe.
As time progressed, Lucy came to the conclusion that she enjoyed creating her own paintings and drawings far more than teaching, so gave up teaching to pursue her lifetime passion to become an artist.

Solway Breakers ~
Born in Coalsnaughton, Clackmannanshire, 1943 Secondary education in Portland, Connecticut, USA Rhode Island School of Design, 1961-1963 Edinburgh College of Art, 1964-68
The works of Hugh Mcintyre, D.A.Edin are most typically out of doors, enveloped in atmospheric overtones and continue the long tradition of Scottish painting. Never working from a subject directly, he walks the riverside or seashore in all weathers and then returns to his studio to relive his experiences by putting them down on canvas. once he has decided on a particular arrangement, it will be repeated over and over until the concept is exhausted. Never working on fewer then three canvases at a time, Mcintyre is able to maintain a high level of intensity by constantly changing from one canvas to another, thereby seeing each with a fresh eye. This technique allows the artist to produce the prodigious amount of work for which he is noted. He regularly returns to themes, sometimes years after the initial investigation. Hugh Mcintyre knows his subject matter intimately and from the time he began exhibiting, twenty years ago, has been recognised as an artist who could distil essences from the landscape which were unique. Never a slave to the physical reality of a situation he has created a more meaningful and accurate representation by painting from the heart those ordinary moments which make our landscape extraordinary. Over the last few years, Hugh has travelled widely working in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Brazil. This has introduced a number of new themes into his work and enriched his palette in a very positive way.

Summer Solstice (Harvest Moon also available to view) ~
Charles Monteith Walker was born in 1957 in Falkirk and attended Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design in Dundee from 1978-1982 where his influences at this time included Alberto Morrocco and David McClure. After graduation he concentrated mainly on landscape drawings in soft pastels. In the mid 1990’s his style began to evolve after several visits to Italy, Spain and Portugal. The warmth of light and colour, the piazzas, churches and towns provided him with a new, rich source of inspiration and led to the development of his own distinctive, unique style.
His work has become increasingly more bold in colour and composition, mixing imagery, symbols and shapes from a variety of different sources both geographically and historically. Charles is versatile in subject matter moving easily from representational landscape and still life to imaginative, vibrantly coloured stylised compositions all crafted in thick layers of oil paint giving his works a strong, sculptural quality.
Since 2000 Charles has worked on a series of larger scale pieces that are highly distinctive both in style and subject matter including a series inspired by Scottish and Mediterranean landscapes. His work is held in private and corporate collections both in the United Kingdom and overseas and he is now regarded as one of our most original contemporary Scottish artists at the forefront of the New Colourist trend in Scottish Art.

Sundown Fife ~
One of the best loved painters of the recent Scottish exodus into the London Art Market, Christine is a graduate of the famous Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen. Her numerous awards have brought her a large following across the country and her extensive travels to Morocco, Tunisia and Italy remain her principal inspiration.

Passenham original watercolour ~
Edward Stamp came to North Bucks as a wartime evacuee at the age of 4. His love for this part of England began at this time.
He acquired an NDD (National Diploma in Design) at Northampton School of Art and became a full-time painter and engraver in 1973 and in 1980.  He was then elected as a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours. His election to the Society of Wood Engravers came soon after.
He currently has work on show at the Obsidian Art Gallery in Stoke Mandeville near Aylesbury.


Visit Skills in Stony Stratford or contact us via our website if you would like to purchase these wonderful pieces.

Northamptonshire's Fine Art and Picture Framers New NN5 premises

Picture Perfect and Primrose Gallery 6 Ryehill Court, Lodge Farm Industrial Estate, Duston, Northampton, NN5 7EU  call for details on 01604 591400



Northamptonshire’s most popular Fine Art Framers, Picture Perfect, have moved from Kingsthorpe old bookshop premises to a prestigious new showroom and workshop.  The company established 18 years ago has taken their services to a higher level.  Now incorporating high quality art printing and picture solutions into their other services of framing – from budget up to Museum conservation level – and picture and photo restoration.

Located in the far less congested area of Harlestone Road in West Northampton, near to Harlestone Firs in Lodge Farm, the new premises has free customer parking and has a forthcoming open event.  Proprietor Neil Duguid has produced a statement on this exciting new expansion.