Donna Webster – Graphic Designer and painter

I am fascinated by objects and places, and by the way we attach feelings, associations and memories to our surroundings. I am interested in how these experiences influence what we notice and remember. Memories can sharpen certain details while allowing others to fade. Similarly, emotion can alter our perception, revealing some aspects and obscuring others.

The paintings in this exhibition are personal responses to places that have stayed with me. Drawing on experiences of landscape and environment, I am interested in what remains after leaving them: an impression of light, a particular shape, a shadow, a colour, a fragment of atmosphere or an emotional response that continues to resonate. The works exist somewhere between observation and recollection, where external surroundings meet an internal, remembered experience.

Working with mixed media—including acrylic, watercolour, pencil and transparent layers of varnish on paper and canvas—I build surfaces gradually through different materials, marks and forms. Transparency and layering are important, enabling elements to emerge, recede or become partially obscured. I am interested in the relationship between what is clearly defined and what remains unresolved, and in the emotions these layers evoke. Through layered surfaces, shifting forms and subtle references to an inner emotional and psychological presence, I explore the relationship between our surroundings and our inner feelings, and the ways in which memory continually reshapes experience. In this way, I am less focused on recording a landscape or object and more interested in exploring how places are felt, remembered and carried with us—and how light, shadow, memory and emotion can come together to create a deeply personal sense of connection.

This is my second exhibition with Stan Thornton, a photographer and filmmaker who works in a different medium but shares my interest in capturing atmosphere and exploring the emotional connection between people and places.

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Stanley Caldecott-Thornton – Photographer & Filmmaker

I grew up in the south of France, surrounded by the stunning landscapes that taught me to appreciate light, colour and the changing seasons. Ever since a young age I’d been playing with cameras, making home movies etc… I started playing with video cameras at age 6 and by 12 I was filming my cousin’s wedding.

In 2018 I started studying Filmmaking at the University of Creative Arts, and ended up graduating in the Lake District after transferring during Covid.

Living and working among the mountains had a profound influence on my photography. I spent much of my free time hiking and camping with a camera; discovering that some of the most rewarding photographs are often found by simply slowing down, walking a little further, and waiting for the right light.

Since graduating, I have been working professionally as a freelance camera operator and photographer, working on projects Mission Impossible, Steve (2025), and commercials for Nike and Reebok.

This exhibition brings together a selection of landscape photographs from Sussex and the Lake District. Some are places I have returned to repeatedly; others capture moments that were significant because I happened to be there at exactly the right time.

I hope these images give you a glimpse of the landscapes as I experienced them: not simply as places, but as memories.

Commissions

I am available for photography and film commissions.

thegroundedmedia.com
stan@thegroundedmedia.com

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