Mary Bowen works in paint and print, creating works that explore our relationship with the natural world and seeking moments of connection and balance amid environmental change.

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Her practice grows from close attention to the moorland landscape, shaped by walking there often and time working in her rural Dartmoor studio. Her paintings offer an intimate sense of these places, from granite tors to delicate lichen and shifting weather. Her process begins with fluid acrylic poured, rubbed and wiped into raw canvas, allowing colour to drift, settle and merge like mist across the moor. These early marks evolve into layered colour, gentle brushwork and subtle detailing.

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Working increasingly at a large scale, Bowen uses her understanding of colour theory, composition and printmaking experience to establish an immersive experience for the viewer. Muted tones are used to evoke the sensory qualities of the landscape, both in the micro and macro. Surfaces are built up through painterly layers, creating depth and texture that reference both the memory and the physicality of the terrain.

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The result is a body of work that invites the viewer to slow down and connect more deeply with the landscape. The paintings at the heart of Bowen’s work encourage a contemplative experience: abstract yet visceral, rooted in processes and elemental forces at work.