Craig Askew

A man with glasses and a beanie hat standing in a room with wooden walls, holding a beverage bottle in one hand and a glass in the other, looking at something outside the frame. Artwork and paintings are visible on the walls, with exposed light bulbs hanging from the ceiling.

A painting with blended strokes of various colors including white, blue, green, brown, and orange, creating an abstract landscape or sky scene.

Craig Askew is a contemporary British painter whose work centres on the shifting atmosphere and expansive horizons of Plymouth Sound. Observing the view across the water from Cornwall towards Devon, his paintings record the ever-changing dialogue between sea, sky and weather.

Craig’s practice begins outdoors. Through written notes, observational studies and journal drawings made on location, he gathers the sensory details of a particular moment — the movement of light across the water, the weight of a passing storm, the stillness before dusk. These field recordings become the foundation for studio paintings that are both considered and deeply felt.

Describing his works as “windows upon the sea,” Craig creates pieces that invite the viewer to pause and look outward. Each painting acts as a visual memory — not simply of a place, but of a lived experience within that place. Rather than striving for literal representation, he seeks to convey his connection to the sea at that precise moment in time.

The resulting works are atmospheric and contemplative, balancing structure with emotion. They capture the quiet power of the coastline and the subtle shifts that make the sea endlessly compelling. Rooted in familiarity and shaped by close observation, Craig Askew’s paintings are intimate records of a landscape he knows instinctively and returns to again and again.