Wild Seas To Northern Skies: Carla Raads’ Artistic Journey

Carla Raads grew up amid the dramatic beauty of South Africa’s Eastern Cape Coast, before moving with her family to Lytham St Annes, where she still lives and works today. After studying fine art and design, Carla built a career outside art before returning to painting with renewed passion in 2017. 

The influence of both her early surroundings and her current environment sing through her works. Bold sunsets convey the expansive skies and vivid colours of the Eastern Cape, and she is equally sensitive to the moodier, ever-changing atmosphere of the northern English shorelines. 

Carla was fortunate enough to study under the artist Philippe Aird (1961-2015), who himself was taught as a child by the world famous Salford artist LS Lowry. Aird developed his own distinctive style, producing beautiful coloured-drenched abstract works inspired by nature.

This influence can clearly be seen in Carla’s painting style, although it remains uniquely her own. One of the techniques that brings such remarkable energy to Carla’s work is her method of layering oil paints directly onto the canvas with her hands, rather than using brushes or palette knives. 

This allows her to combine immediacy and rawness with a spirituality and depth of feeling: these large scale abstract paintings really do speak to the soul, whether a fleeting sky or the stiller but no less intense beauty of flowers. 

Carla’s artistic talent was recognised early in her career when she was named a Driven by Dreams ambassador by Porsche in 2023. She has also held acclaimed solo exhibitions across Europe, notably at the Jumeirah Hotel in Sóller, Mallorca, and the Grand Hotel in Lytham St Annes in 2025.

Carla is represented at prestigious galleries across Cheshire and Lancashire and her work is sought after by international collectors. Her art is expected to appreciate in value and represents an excellent investment for private collectors, dealers and galleries.