What themes or ideas do you find yourself returning to most often?
My work centres around my love for trees and their importance to us and to our world. I'm fascinated by how much trees have influenced our folklore and culture, I find it confusing how certain trees are revered and treated with devotion, yet others are treated as disposable commodities. I aim to draw attention to trees through my paintings, using a portrait style to encourage the viewing of them as individual beings. Sometimes, people do not connect my painting with actual trees, as some of them are so bizarre looking, but trees are all unique individuals which often show their life experience on their bodies, which can result in some very interesting shapes!
When did you start your creative practice and why?
I've painted since I was a child and did art to A'level at school. I then changed track and went into Nursing instead of Art School, I think because of the pressure at the time of art 'not being a serious vocation'. Many years and careers later while working as a beauty therapist, lockdowns happened. When we were allowed to return to work our treatment room spaces had to be clear of decor that couldn't be easily cleaned. So facing a bare space, I decided to paint a mural of a cherry tree onto a wall to brighten the place up. That was it, I was back to art. Subsequent lock downs allowed me time to study, experiment and find my style. I discovered the art of natural pigment making and was hooked. I love the physicality of paint making, the foraging and the endless experiments that are possible.I find it really helps complete my practice, using natural pigments, often obtained from the seeds of trees, or the soil beneath them or directly from their wood, brings me full circle in connection between trees and the earth.
What tools, materials or techniques are essential to your practice? Is there a colour you just couldn't do without?
Creating my own paints and inks from nature is integral to my practice, I love being out and about in nature just seeing what I come across, I always have little bags or pots for collecting samples on me whenever I go walking. Working with nature brings with it an element of unpredictability which I love. There is always something new to discover and learn from the pigments. Aside from actual paint brushes, a hammer, pestle and mortar, sieve and old coffee jars are essential to me.
A colour I absolutely love is a deep red ochre. I found one shade once in the roots of a fallen tree, a rich burgundy with a tone of blue in it. The other shade is a rich burgundy red, sourced from haematite stones found locally. It features in almost all of my paintings but may not always be obvious as I often layer it with my charcoal blacks for depth. Deep red ochres have long had a spiritual significance to many cultures, for both art and ceremony. I love how using them now feels like honouring the trees, land and my ancestors.
If your work could evoke one feeling or reaction in viewers, what would it be?
I want people to experience a sense of awe and wonder when they see a tree portrait, perhaps see trees in new ways, as the incredible, magical and important beings they are. This is why I paint the trees themselves in a realistic style, but often with backgrounds that are out of the limelight, abstract, or not there at all. I love when someone says 'Wow, what a tree'.
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