MEET THE ARTISTS: RELTON MARINE
We’re thrilled to introduce Relton Marine as our programme artist for Affordable Art Fair Battersea Spring, 4 – 8 March 2026.
Affordable Art Fair
Friday 26 December, 2025
Yorkshire-based artist duo Christine Relton and Tom Marine
This March marks a double celebration: not only will Yorkshire-based artists Christine Relton and Tom Marine star as our programme artist for Affordable Art Fair Battersea Spring, but it also marks exactly 30 years since they met and began painting together. Three decades of creative partnership and hundreds of distinct canvases packed with texture, colour, and joy.
“Painting has been how we respond to the world for as long as we can remember.”
RELTON MARINE
Can you tell us about your journey into art?
We’ve loved art since we were kids, just completely obsessed with it. We both went to art college and studied fine art at degree level, and then for a while we were both painting alongside other jobs. We met in 1996 when we were in our 30s and started painting together. We’ve been doing it professionally ever since. Painting has been how we respond to the world for as long as we can remember.
Narcissus and Figs is the star of our campaign – Can you tell us more about it?
This was one of a series of still lifes we’ve been working on. Tom stretches and primes the canvases, then oversees the underpainting, using wonderful objects to create texture. He’s become obsessed with this huge lace we get from Venice, making stencils, patterns and colour.
My job is to come along when he’s finished and use it as a base to do a composition over the top, transforming it into a painting. I make sure to leave a lot of Tom’s work coming through, which creates so much texture and history. With Narcissus and Figs we were trying to leave more of the original painting visible. It has to be fresh, so we’re doing less to keep that energy. Still life is a well-trodden path, and we’re trying to make it recognisably ours.
“Still life is a well-trodden path, and we’re trying to make it recognisably ours.“
RELTON MARINE
And you’re creating a new installation for the fair entrance! What can visitors expect?
The plan is that when you walk into the entrance way, there’ll be two 6ft square canvases that will look like one large painting. They’ll be based in our signature style, using the same techniques of underpainting with textiles, and then composition. We’ll also take sections of this and blow them up for the stairs and balustrades. The installation will be huge, impactful, and packed with vivid colour.
On the reverse, we’re planning an outline image of the two paintings using black colour, with pots of kids’ crayons so people can colour it in and interact with it. It’s so exciting painting at this scale…
Two artists, one canvas – can you tell us about your method?
We’ve both always contributed to each canvas, but over the years a rhythm has developed. Tom starts them: stretching, priming, creating these lovely abstracts. Then I come along and take over. We get together at the end and see what’s working well and what’s not. He tends to work at night, and I tend to work during the day.
We’ve collected ceramics and textiles over many years of travelling, which all feed into our paintings. It’s evolved organically over many years and many discussions. We have such different skills but a cohesive idea of what makes a painting.
“As an artist you tend to solve your problems the same way, all the time. The thing about working with someone else is they do surprise you.”
Relton Marine
Working together is an amazing support system. Being an artist can be a lonely life, so having two of you is brilliant. There can be a bit of artistic paranoia, is this good? Is this bad? And we’re always together talking about it. We’ll be discussing picking the kids up from school, and suddenly: does that need to be blue or green?
As an artist you tend to solve your problems the same way all the time. It’s hard to surprise yourself. But working with someone else, they do surprise you, giving you something you wouldn’t have thought of yourself. Sometimes Tom will roller over half the painting because he’s decided it’s not working. Once I’ve got over my rage, I continue, and it’s a surprise you can’t do yourself. The leaps we’ve made have all come from situations like that.
You’ve spent 30 years working together – What have been your career highlights?
Our career has been very much about self-representation. We’ve shown through galleries for many years, but the highlights for us have been Affordable Art Fair. Our highlight is meeting new people and talking to them, conveying our enthusiasm for what we do.
People commissioning work is also wonderful. From time to time we get commissioned to do really big paintings. I think the biggest one was 12ft by 10ft. The confidence people have in us is incredible, and people come back. They love the work so much they come and buy another one. This recognition and the joy we give people with the paintings is everything.
We’ve been doing Affordable Art Fair since 2002, so it’ll be 24 years in March. And on 10 March it will be exactly 30 years since we met and started painting together. It’s been an amazing career, and Affordable Art Fair has enabled this.
“On 10 March it will be exactly 30 years since we met and started painting together. It’s been an amazing career, and the art fairs have enabled that really”
Relton Marine
We’ve been doing Affordable Art Fair since 2002, so it’ll be 24 years in March since we did the first Battersea fair. And on 10 March it will be exactly 30 years since we met and started painting together. It’s been an amazing career, and Affordable Art Fair has enabled this.
The access people now have to buying original art is so important. People didn’t used to have that access, and this has all chimed beautifully with us meeting and starting to make paintings together. The market has evolved with us.
What are you most excited about for the fair?
The buzz, the people, the whole thing. With the installation in the entrance, we’re so excited for people to see what we’ve got at this scale. The exposure and the amount of people that will see what we can do.
We’re proud to represent Affordable Art Fair. It’s a pleasure and an honour. We’ve been doing this for 24 years, and to be the programme artist is absolutely incredible.
Discover more from Relton Marine at Affordable Art Fair, Battersea Spring 4 – 8 March, alongside over 100 exhibiting galleries and thousands of beautiful contemporary artworks.
Author