Botanical Swans Painting

Born and raised near Oxford, England Francesca has travelled extensively returning from Australia in 2019 via countries which inspired and astounded her in particular Vietnam. She gains inspiration from various artistic movements from artists such as Salvador Dali, Renne Magritte, Lucien Freud and Yayoi Kusama along with more illustrative influences including Rebecca Dautremer, Benjamin Lacombe and Sylvain Chomet. Gaining a BA Hons in Illustration Francesca was introduced to the medium of gouache which she worked in consistently for years. Her more recent work has seen her move into water based oils on canvas which is now her preferred medium having recently completed her first personal piece in this medium ‘Emergence’. Previously working within fashion under great designers such as Matthew Williamson inspired her to focus on her personal paintings, alongside private commissions. Beginning to paint in the lockdowns of 2020 her first personal painting ‘Finding Balance’ was featured by Saatchi Art later that same year. She is now working towards creating a personal collection of works in-between commissions in the hope of achieving a solo show in the near future. Artists Statement: Captivated by the movements of Dadasim and Surrealism, inspired by the creation of impossible scenes within nonsensical circumstances my pieces begin with a current situation, a feeling, an impression or merely an object which fascinates me. I begin sketching out ideas, small thumbnails. Testing the angle of the light source, the composition, the colours and elements. Researching via both first and secondary sources. The creation of a mood board often helps to consolidate these ideas. Once I’ve settled on a particular idea and colour range I then sketch this out larger and roughly paint it or digitally lay it out either from photographs or smaller painted elements. I then work from this coloured layout to create a final piece. I hope to achieve the visualisation of images which are kind and yet somehow unnerving, recreating a juxtaposition of objects into something curiously beautiful yet strangely dark. Resulting in the absurd, unimaginable and impractical. Finding this boundary between beauty and peculiarity : the “Art of the Odd”. www.francescabackhouse.com @francescabackhouse London