Sheila Fell R.A. (British, 1931-1979) Queen Street, Aspatria from Barnes' Field signed 'FELL' (lower right), further signed, titled and dated 'FELL 1966 'QUEEN STREET, ASPATRIA FROM BARNES' FIELD'' (on the stretcher) oil on canvas 50.8 x 61 cm. (20 x 24 in.) Footnotes: Provenance With Stone Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne Private Collection, U.K. Exhibited Newcastle upon Tyne, Stone Gallery, Painters of the North, cat.no.24 (titled Aspatria from Barnes Field Newcastle upon Tyne, Stone Gallery, Sheila Fell, Spring 1967, cat.no.17 Literature Professor J. Andrew Bradley and Dr Eleanor Bradley, Sheila Fell: Catalogue Raisonné, Lund Humphries, London, 2025, p.274, cat.no.239 (ill.b&w, titled Aspatria from Barnes Field) Queen Street, Aspatria from Barnes' Field takes us to the landscape that lay at the heart of Sheila Fell's work: the small Cumbrian town of Aspatria, where she was born in 1931 and spent her childhood. The title identifies both the street where Fell grew up and the field from which she viewed it. The field belonged to J. W. Barnes, whose farm lay between Lawson Street and Brayton Road, very close to Fell's family home. From here there was a clear view towards the bottom of Queen Street, with the Methodist Chapel near Fell's home visible at the centre of the composition. The painting is therefore rooted in a place that was deeply familiar to the artist. Fell spent her childhood at 69 Queen Street, and Aspatria remained an important presence in her work throughout her life. She never approached the countryside as an idyllic or picturesque subject, but was drawn instead to its fields, houses, roads and working communities. These familiar elements became the foundation for her landscapes, through which she could convey both the character of a place and her own deep connection to it. Here, the buildings are gathered towards the centre of the composition, while broad fields and an expansive sky dominate the picture. Fell's vigorous brushwork and heavy application of paint give the landscape a tactile quality. Rather than carefully describing each element, she simplifies and builds up the forms, allowing the houses, fields and sky to become part of a unified whole. The result remains recognisable as Aspatria, but is filtered through the expressive language that had become increasingly characteristic of her work. The year 1966 falls within an important period in Fell's career. The following year she was preparing for a major solo exhibition at the Stone Gallery in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, writing to Kathleen and Tony Dalzell that she had been 'struggling to get the Newcastle exhibition ready' and that she believed some of the new paintings were among the best she had made (Sheila Fell, letter to Kathleen and Tony Dalzell, 12 April 1967, Dalzell Archive). Queen Street, Aspatria from Barnes' Field belongs to this fertile period, when Fell was finding new ways to express the landscape that had shaped her from childhood. We are grateful to Professor J. Andrew Bradley for his assistance in cataloguing this lot. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: AR AR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing