Sarah Gillespie – Grey Arches

This beautiful mezzotint print is the newest and most delicate moth by Sarah Gillespie. ‘Grey Arches’ has a soft marble pattern detailing the wings. The copperplate from which this print is made is cut in an arch, and perfectly counter balances the distal scalloped and hairy wing edge. It is so finely drawn and engraved that is sculpted in light as if it has gently landed on the rich black velvet ground. This is a black that only the old and difficult printmaking process of mezzotint can achieve.

Grey Arches is common throughout much of the British Isles. Emerging in June and July it is often drawn to the light. But rarely do we stop to admire its quiet beauty. Occupying a mainly woodland habitat, the larvae feed in the autumn on low herbaceous plants, and then after hibernation in the spring on buds and leaves of trees such as birch and willow.

About Sarah Gillespie

Sarah Gillespie was born in Winchester in 1963. She studied 16th & 17th century methods and materials at the Atelier Neo-Medici in Paris and then read Fine Art at Pembroke College, Oxford (BFA Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art). On leaving She was awarded the Elizabeth Greenshield Foundation International Award for figurative art and has had a successful career as a painter. In 2016 she was elected a member of the Royal West of England Academy. Sarah Gillespie makes mezzotint prints, an old, slow and painstaking method that produces unique velvet blacks and soft tones. Her work encourages us to refocus our gaze toward the everyday and the overlooked; moths, blackbirds and winter-suns.

Her work is held in public and private collections including: Victoria and Albert Museum, London; National Portrait Gallery; LondonVictoria Gallery Bath; Government Offices for the South West, UK; Royal West of England Academy; Sharpham Trust; Chatsworth House; Museum of Fine Arts, Yekaterinburg, Russia.

Current Exhibition

Sarah Gillespie: Birded and Eyed
Kestle Barton, Cornwall TR12 6HU
20th June – 6th September 2026
website

“Kestle Barton presents  ‘Birded and Eyed’, a second solo exhibition by Sarah Gillespie, following her exhibition at Kestle Barton in 2020.  the show brings together new works in mezzotint and drawing, developed through her close observation of the woods, meadows and night-life around both Kestle Barton and her home in Devon.”