Rainsford frequently engages the landscape itself within his process, including rubbing local soils into unstretched canvases he calls “earth blankets,” to carry the physical presence of site into the finished work. He has lived in the west of Ireland for over twenty-five years and is drawn to mountains, stones, and boglands. In 2024 he was selected for Messums’ online exhibition Emerging Landscape Painting Today. He is a member of INTERFACE, an artist programme in Connemara where art and science intersect. Rainsford has also translated his language of place into design with Christopher Farr, including the rug Earth Matters.

2025 · Landscape Painting Today (group), Messums West, Tisbury, Wiltshire: 11 Jan – 24 Feb
2024 · Emerging Landscape Painting Today (Online) (group), Messums London: 9 Oct – 16 Nov
2023–2024 · The Ballinglen Arts Foundation & Museum of Art: First Biennial — International Open Call Exhibition in the West of Ireland (group), Ballycastle, Co. Mayo: 7 Oct – 10 Jan
2004 · On Bogs & Moorland (solo), The Cat & The Moon Gallery, Sligo: Feb – Mar

Affiliations

• INTERFACE, Inagh, Connemara: Member

• Messums London and Messums West: Exhibiting artist in Emerging Landscape Painting Today (Online, 2024) and Landscape Painting Today (2025)

• Ballinglen Museum of Art: Exhibiting artist in the First Biennial International Open Call (2023–2024)

Design collaboration

• Christopher Farr: Rugs including Earth Matters and Two Earths

Gusbourne Pinot Noir 2020, Kent
A delicate, pale ruby Pinot with morello cherry, wild strawberry, dark plum and black cherry, plus black pepper spice, smoky notes and an earthy minerality that gives length and finesse.

Why it pairs with Michael Rainsford
His practice brings literal ground into the work. This Pinot’s gentle structure, subtle smoke and earthy mineral finish mirror that sense of place, echoing peat, soil and weathered landscape in a calm, contemplative register.