Shapiro Fine Art

Collection of traditional oil paintings by Fine Artist Derek Shapiro. All subjects with an emphasis on commissioned work.

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‘Study of a Fallen Apple’

This windswept apple was collected from the bottom of my garden. I’ve no idea of the name of this particular apple, for the tree that it came from was in my garden for some time before I came here. It was a good eater and probably came out of a Cox’s. Another bonus about painting still life fruit pictures is you get to eat the props.

 

A still life painting of a fallen apple and blackberries on a natural ground and a mossy background

‘Study of a Fallen Apple and Blackberries’ 

Oil on panel 5 x 7 in

Painting sold

Commissions invited similar to this for 2020,or any subject. Please get in touch.

‘Peckforton and Beeston Castle’ from Bunbry Cheshire’

I painted this scene for a client sometime ago who lives in the Cheshire countryside. It depicts the two castles in the distance across fields situated on the outskirts of Bunbry. As Bunbry lies on the Western Edge of the Cheshire plains I decided to paint this scene, with the castles in the distance, with plenty of sky in the style of the Dutch Masters.

‘Peckforton and Beeston Castle from Bunbury Cheshire’

Select Past Works Paintings – https://wp.me/p2Ijh6-1wU

Commissions invited for 2020 :: Contact me here

Courtyard setting at the Alhambra

If you get the chance, pay a visit to the Alhambra, a beautiful palace set in the hills in Granada Spain. The Alhambra was a real walled city, built by the Nasrid Kings in the last period of Muslim rule in Spain.

You could spend a lifetime painting scenes of the many entrances and secluded courtyards set within the palace, as well as unending views and sections set within the palace walls.

I was struck by this view of the Lindaraja Courtyard depicted in the painting and, this courtyard alone could have made me work for at least a dozen or more paintings.

‘Lindaraja Courtyard’ Alhambra. Granada. Spain

Oil on panel 10 x 8 ins

Commissioned Painting

Commissions Invited for 2020, any subject, please click here

 

 

 

‘10.45 to Newby Bridge Halt’

42073 class, BR Fairburn pulls in at Newby Bridge railway station.

This steam engine is from the Lakeside Haverthwaite heritage railway and the train stops at Lakeside station where you can board a boat on Lake Windermere.

I took in Newby Bridge on a walk I did along a stretch of the River Leven, the bridge is situated on the southern end of Lake Windermere and after a coffee at the hotel set off from the station where I was lucky enough to see the train passing through the station.

An oil painting of a steam engine of the Lakeside Haverthwaite heritage railway stopping off at the Newby Bridge Halt railway station and on it's way to Lake Windermere

‘10.45 to Newby Bridge Halt’

Oil on canvas panel 8″ x 12″

Commissions welcome for 2020, to get in touch please click here

 

The Fastest Steam Locomotive On The Planet

The Mallard, the world’s fastest steam engine passing through York Station. Brought out of mothballs and seen in 1988 when it took part in commemorations. Designed by Nigel Gresley , this loco holds the record for speed, on 3 July 1938, the A4 class locomotive Mallard raced down Stoke Bank at 126 mph to set a new steam locomotive world speed record, that still stands today.

The Mallard

‘ Mallard ‘

Oil on canvas 20 x 30 in

Available to purchase :: derek@shapirofineart.com

‘Hard Winter’

This painting was purchased by a client who purchased a Limited Edition Print of HMS Warspite. He also commissioned me to paint a picture depicting Warspite during the first world war, embarking and passing through the Forth Bridge on her way to the Battle of Jutland. The Painting hangs in his house in Canada.

An oil painting of pheasants foraging for food in set in a wooded snowy landscape

‘Hard Winter’

Oil on canvas 16″ x 20″

To commission a painting, any subject, please click here

To view paintings available please click here

Second commission of ‘St Peters Church’ Maer

Commissioned painting of Maer Church in Staffordshire

‘St Peter’s Church’ (2) Maer Newcastle Staffordshire

Oil on linen canvas panel 10 x 14 ins

COMMISSIONED PAINTING

After starting the first painting of St Peters church http://wp.me/p2Ijh6-Yw,  I was commissioned to do this second picture. By coincidence the client came into the gallery shortly after I started the first painting. He too got married at the church and was visiting his wife who is buried there. As explained in the first painting of St.Peters, Charles Darwin, the father of evolution married there, after marrying Joshia Wedgwood’s daughter, who used to live in Maer Hall which is opposite the church. Some years ago I was commissioned to paint Maer Hall by the present owner, since Darwin’s days, the Hall has been reduced considerably in size.

If you would like to commission a painting,on any subject, then please click here and get in touch.

 

‘The Topiary Garden’

A painting of a chess set made out of topiary set out on a garden lawn.

‘The Topiary Garden’  (No.1 of a pair)

A painting of a chess set made out of topiary set out on a garden lawn with a ha-ha in the middle distance.

‘The Topiary Garden’ (No.2 of a pair)

Commissioned paintings

Water Colour 12 x 16 ins

This pair of pictures were painted in the Victorian style of water colour painting and the topiary set out on the lawn represents a chess set. In painting two, the lawn finishes and looks over a ha-ha into the distant fields. A ha-ha is a recessed landscape design element that creates a vertical barrier while preserving views, as well as preventing access to a garden by grazing livestock, without obstructing views.

Commissions accepted, any subject, contact me here derek@shapirofineart.com

‘St Peter’s Church’ Maer Newcastle Staffordshire

 

Commissioned painting of Maer Church in Staffordshire

‘St.Peter’s Church’ Maer Newcastle Staffordshire 

Oil on linen canvas panel. 10 x 14 ins

COMMISSIONED PAINTING

St Peter’s church, is situated in a small rural village close to my gallery.

The painting was commissioned by a lovely couple, who sometime ago, got married in the church.

“Its main feature is the large 17th-century stone-built country house, Maer Hall, built on a slope above a small lake, or “mere”, which gave the house and estate its name. The Hall became the home of Josiah Wedgwood II and was frequently visited by his nephew Charles Darwin, who went on to marry Josiah’s daughter Emma at St. Peter’s Church, which stands higher on the hillside, close to the Hall. When she was young, Emma helped her older sister Elizabeth with the Sunday School, which was held in Maer Hall laundry, giving sixty village children their only formal training in reading, writing and religion. The grave of Josiah Wedgwood II and his wife Elizabeth in the churchyard has a view down over the Hall”.

If you would like to commission a painting,on any subject, then please click here and get in touch.

 

 

 

 

Courtyard Setting, Bishops Mews, off Exeter Cathedral

'Bishops Mews 'off Exeter Cathedral'

‘ Bishops Mews ‘ off Exeter Cathedral ‘

Watercolour. 8.50 x 6.50 ins

Whilst living in Exeter for a spell, I used to hang about in the Cathedral and roam the City streets. I came across this courtyard house, set in the Bishops Mews, and was struck by the shaft of sunlight that pierced part of the courtyard and house. The street side of the house was in shadow, as I looked through the archway into the courtyard, for an instance was blinded by the light, and for a few seconds, until the eyes adjusted, the archway was in blackness. It was a real challenge to depict this moment in time and impossible to paint the shaft of light bright enough.

Commissions invited, any subject:: Click here