Rocky Foreshore, Ireland Painting

Hilary Marsh has been an entrepreneur in many creative industries including music, software, drinks creation, restaurant creation and landscape gardening. She is also a poet and a philosopher. She has always loved the visual arts as a consumer and collector, but only turned her hand to painting herself at the end of 2022. There has been no looking back. In Marsh’s own words: “I can’t now imagine being without this. A day without painting is a bad day. I have so many paintings appearing in my head and jostling for position to see the light of day. It is very personal thing, but made so much more rewarding when the paintings connect with another human being. It’s a profound way of communicating. I experiment with different media but love oil paint. I even love the way it feels. I do use brushes and palette knives, but my favourite tools are fingers, thumbs and even palms. You’ll find that the backs of my paintings are often a mess as a result - sorry about that. People now ask why I wasted so much of my life not painting. (Charming!) But I don’t think I could have painted like this earlier. I’m sure that the richness of earlier life experiences has a big effect. I move between London and Northern Ireland with my wonderful architect husband. My favourite studio overlooks the Atlantic where it meets the wild Irish Sea. The pageant provided by the untamed forces of nature is endlessly captivating and inspiring. It is also wonderfully humbling. I’m always trying to capture something of the sublime, even in abstract works. I hope they convey something of that to you too.”