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I remember the very day I became a ‘professional artist’, when someone actually commissioned (paid) me to paint a triptych for them. It wasn’t a huge amount of money at the time, but I felt like it was a million dollars (I still do – I still feel so very honoured and humbled by the experience).
Since then, I have played with a lot of different materials, techniques, styles… and only fairly recently have developed a style that just ‘feels’ right for me – and I love it.
STYLE
Technically, it is apparently referred to as painting in the style of “modern contemporary impressionism”. In other words, being influenced by the impressionists of the early 1900s, but adding a more modern element.
SUBJECT MATTER
I am greatly influenced by water, historical subjects, and ethereal elements such as reflections.
APPROACH
For the majority of my pieces, I first create a watercolour painting of my subject, then apply oil pastels to give a rich, lush, and dream-like aesthetic to the piece.
I rarely paint straight from my imagination, but first will find different photos, other works I have seen, or even create some AI images, and then use any or all of those to inspire me.
MATERIALS
Watercolour – mostly Windsor and Newton solid half-pan, and Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils
Oil Pastels – Sennellier Oil Pastels
Windsor and Newton was established in 1832 in London, and in 1835, they developed the first glycerine based, moist water colours forever changing outdoor painting. They also produced painting materials for Queen Victoria.
Faber-Castell was established in Germany in 1761, and has remained in the family for eight generations.
Sennelier was established in 1887 in France and was the brand of choice for artists such as Gaugin, Cézanne, Gauguin, and Monet. In 1947 Picasso approached Henri Sennelier to create a completely new medium that had the qualities of vivacity, luminosity and unctuosity in an easy to apply stick form. The result was Sennelier’s oil pastels (that I absolutely adore!).