Like many artists, Rose Sanderson began a body of work during the early days of the pandemic as a sort of balm for the harsh realities of the world. “I started playing with escapism and imagination, mixing reality and fiction, and the blurring of childhood memories and nostalgia,” she says of her surreal paintings on vintage postcards. “Many of the images are in seaside towns, influenced by growing up in one myself through the ’80s and ’90s.”

Playing with scale, Sanderson renders scenes that evoke the Creature Features of early cinema: an enormous crab is on the verge of scuttling over a beach filled with people, a tiger lounges alongside an unsuspecting man, and a zig-zagged fissure bisects the ground around an amusement park. But thanks to the artist’s wit, the paintings are more humorous than horrifying, plunging viewers into a bizarre dreamland where the uncanny is always lurking around the corner.

Sanderson has been collecting the postcards from thrift stores, antique shops, markets, and online retailers for several years, which she’s added to a collection started by her grandparents. “There is something special about these snippets of history that give me a warm fuzzy feeling, and I love a lot of the aged, saturated colours, too.”

Having reached 50 paintings, Sanderson’s series will be on view from November 11 to December 23 at Aberystwyth Arts Centre. A limited-edition book featuring all of the works will be available as well. Follow along for updates on the artist’s Instagram.