Nancy Bailey, Ben Nevis from Loch Eil, Scotland, 1978, Impasto Oil Painting, Framed

Nancy Bailey.
English ( b.1913 - d.2012 ).
Ben Nevis from Loch Eil, 1978.
Oil On Canvas.
Signed Lower Right.
Image size 19.3 inches x 39.4 inches ( 49cm x 100cm ).
Frame size 24.8 inches x 44.9 inches ( 63cm x 114cm ).

This original impasto oil painting is by the Cornish artist Nancy Bailey and is dated 1978.
The painting is presented and supplied in its original frame (which is shown in these photographs). The canvas overlap is signed, serial numbered and titled on the reverse as you would expect to see on all of Nancy’s works.
This vintage impasto oil painting is in very good condition, defying its age. It wants for nothing and is supplied ready to hang and display.
The painting is signed lower right and on the reverse it is titled and signed again.



Nancy Bailey was born in 1913 and started her working life at the age of 15. As a teenager she used her father’s camera to take photographs of West Country views, many of which were used to produce postcards, which sold throughout the country. This early talent demonstrated her knowledge and appreciation of light and composition that later enabled her to create the beautiful paintings for which she became internationally renowned. Her family moved frequently throughout the south west, before settling in Ireland where for thirteen years she produced high quality marquetry pictures, which sold all over the world.

Nancy only started painting seriously when she returned to Cornwall in her fifties. Her painting career, though started somewhat late, continued over forty years. Nancy worked with a palette knife and never used a brush. This gives her work its distinctive texture and captures the landscape and light. Nancy became acclaimed as one of the leading palette knife artists in the UK.

Although Nancy travelled widely, including a safari trip to South Africa with the acclaimed nature artist David Shepherd her best work is arguably of the coasts and rivers of the West Country, which she loved so much.

Nancy died in 2012, since when demand for her original works has increased.



This charming original oil on canvas by Nancy Bailey depicts a dramatic scene of Ben Nevis from the far side of Loch Eil. In the foreground we see sheep grazing on the grass around the shore of the loch. In the midground of the painting is the loch itself, calm pale blue waters which stretch the whole width of this painting. On the nearest shore of the loch is a modest crofter’s cottage with snow on its roof. There are a couple of tall trees on the shore, and the colour of the foliage generally suggests that this is later summer/early autumn. In the background is the great range of Grampian Mountains, with the tallest peaks being capped in white snow. The sky above is dappled with light cloud. Overall, this is a very serene and expansive scene.
Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in Scotland, the United Kingdom and the British Isles. It stands at the western end of the Grampian Mountains in the Highland region of Lochaber. Loch Eil is a seawater loch in Lochaber and opens into Loch Linnhe near the town of Fort William.