Anne James on an exhibition by Oxford painter Sarah Spackman

Sarah Spackman is an Oxford-based artist who is highly collected. She shows individual paintings regularly at the Sarah Wiseman Gallery, but the coming month provides an opportunity to see five of her new works together.

All are still life in oil on linen, all in gentle colours and all possessing a sense of tranquillity, each capturing a transient moment in perpetuity. The way she achieves this owes a great deal to the calm confidence with which she handles colour, using it to give emphasis, create contrasts and to establish relationships between different parts of the canvas.

Tea in the Orchard, and Figs in Fez hang next to each other, providing the opportunity to enjoy the similar principles on which each is based and to explore the different direction each takes. The first is quintessentially English, rejoicing in the soft diffuse light of Northern Europe.

The piece is dominated by a plain taupe area on which sit an orchid in full flower, a traditional brown teapot flanked by a milk jug, tea caddy, beaker, teaspoon and an old-fashioned blue and white striped mug which appears to contain a hint of tea.

All are offset by a pinky-purple background that gives way to a strong turquoise border at the right hand side of the piece. By contrast Figs in Fez speaks of the bold colours of Morocco, the intensity of its sunlight and the contrasts that creates with shade and shadows. The simplicity of the piece is quite breathtaking; the juxtaposition of the papery white flowers with the plump rounded figs is simply beautiful and further enhanced by the shadow thrown by the vase across the figs and their plate, linking both together.

Arrangment is quite beautiful, too. It captures the short-lived nature of exquisite pink tulips, five in the vase, one yet to be arranged, set on a cloth of muted cream and backed by a wall in gentle greys and browns.

In Standing on the Flaggy Shore, three vessels stand against a glowing orange background, surrounded by soft browns and purples with, at the top of the piece, references to the shoreline of the title.

The work is on show at the Sarah Wiseman Gallery until mid-April, Monday to Saturday. It is advisable to contact the gallery in advance as the work is selling fast and an exact end date of the exhibition cannot be guaranteed.

Sarah Spackman
Sarah Wiseman Gallery, Summertown
Until mid-April