Ella Carty (born 1971 in Nairobi, Kenya) studied BA Fine Art: Painting at Cheltenham College of Art 1990–94 and is an alumna of Digswell Arts in Hertfordshire (2010–14). She lives near Falmouth in Cornwall and has a studio at Krowji in Redruth.
Ella is a painter who investigates her own experiences of the world. Her semi-abstract paintings incorporate a love of colour and pattern, absorbing and interpreting her surroundings. She treads a line between representation and abstraction with the aim of sparking the viewer’s curiosity, igniting their imagination.
Ella works predominantly with water-based acrylic ink on canvas, as this medium avoids using solvent-based substances like turps and white spirit that often go hand in hand with oil paints. She loves the colour intensity, fluidity and versatility of acrylic inks and the commitment to the mark that they bring. “Once the ink is applied, it is hard to eliminate or work over. It is a very different method of working to oils, where you can scrape paint off or continually re-work the surface of the painting.”
Ella’s current body of work touches on the sensation of warmth as well as the seasonal change that comes at the end of summer and beginning of autumn. She uses colour to create imagined spaces, to set a scene or a narrative and to generate an emotional connection with the viewer.
“Bowls of peaches ripen in the conservatory, next to where the cats like to sit, too hot at high noon, just right by late afternoon. Instead of in a greenhouse, I let tomatoes grow here; the late summer sun ripens them eventually. When it gets too hot, I retreat into the shade of the house, grateful that searing temperatures don’t scold these parts of England. As the sunset pours over the windowsill, it makes everything glow a soft pink.”
Ella exhibits widely in group and solo shows in the UK. Recent exhibitions include Don’t Play with Your Food at Sunny Bank Mills in Leeds and Where the Line Breaks with the Newlyn Society of Artists at Tremenheere Gallery in Penzance, both in 2024. She exhibits regularly with Morgans Gallery in Falmouth as well as the Newlyn Society of Artists at Tremenheere Gallery. Solo shows include Rooms in Stones Café Krowji (Redruth, Cornwall) in 2022 and Drawing from Rocks and The Joy of Small Things both with The Terrace Gallery (Penryn, Cornwall) in 2021. Previous group shows include The Bright Side at The Byre Gallery (Millbrook, Cornwall) in 2021, Penwith Society of Arts Summer Show and Winter Show at Penwith Gallery (St Ives, Cornwall), The Auction Collective Spring Exhibition in London, Summer Show and Autumn Show at Eastwood Fine Art (Stockbridge, Hampshire) and Selene at The Old Lock Up Gallery (Matlock, Derbyshire) in 2020.
Ella has been represented several times at art fairs, including with Gala Fine Art at the Autumn 2022 and Spring 2024 editions of Battersea Affordable Art Fair and at Amsterdam Affordable Art Fair in November 2023 and October 2024. Her paintings will next be exhibited on Gala Fine Art’s stand at Brussels Affordable Art Fair in February 2025 and at Battersea in March 2025.
Ella’s work is in private collections all over the world, including the US, Canada, Australia and the Far East, as well as the UK and Europe.
