Elizabeth-1 Painting

I always loved being creative and would often spend hours sketching out ideas or writing poems. I have always been very viisual and my early interest in alternative music, graphic novels and comic’s definitely influenced my artistic style as a teenager. My early work was a lot more figurative, where I would sketch out ideas first and work from pencilled designs on the canvas/paper and experimented with using oil paints. Some were quite scary, surreal, with figures/forms growing into each other or landscapes. and more fine-art/illustrative in design. I used watercolours for a time too, and found this helpful when creating works with lots of detail. I also started designing major arcana tarot cards as I was studying psychology and art therapy and had always been fascinated by Carl Jung and his idea of archetypes and collective unconscious. After this I returned to using oils on canvas. Some were more cubist, impressionist, some folk art or primitivism. However my work in last decade has been experimenting with expressionism and abstract art which has developed through varying styles. Some more influenced again by folk art, abstract primitivism and street art. My favourite artists are Basquiat for his naive originality, use of writing and symbols in his work. Pollack and Brasner for creating art that is more about the process. I love to paint fast energetic designs with bright colours and then lots of contrasting shades. I have begun to use a technique where I move paint with a squeegee to create interesting effects. Other artists that have influenced me are Karel Appell, Jimmy Ernst, Francis Bacon, Willem and Elaine de Cooning, Van Gogh, Jean Mitchell, I have tried to use similar styles where bold brush strokes can be seen to build up layers of texture and depth, sometimes scratching writing or symbols to create interesting effects or hidden messages about painting itself. Frida Kahlo is also one of my favourites, some of my more figurative abstract work was inspired by her portraits. I have travelled a lot in Mexico during Day of the Dead and relish in their rich arts and crafts cultural heritage and have tried to mimic their colour palettes and imagery of La Calavera Catrina in some of my more folk-art abstracts.I have also used themes of mythology and feminism in some of my pieces, identifying oppression and our connection to earth.