Nadine

I always found the basis of art in the formal way very hard, but when I attended night school classes, to do life drawing, painting and collage, the way we learnt was to be much freer in ones approach and this ultimately is what brought me to believe that anyone can be an artist.

Now I like to experiment with textures and paint treatments, leaving much to a sort of chance, especially how the watercolour flows around the page. It is not always planned and I never know exactly how the painting will look. I start from my inner observations, my memory and then sometimes add the use of other sources to help with the process.  I observe everything around me and rather than drawing directly from life and the surrounding countryside I find that it is the essence of the light, the essence of the colours, the essence of the forms, movement and size that attracts me. So this is what I like to convey.

Art is a therapy for me and it is only when I am immersed in a creation of my own, that I feel an inner peace and calm.  I believe in a number of ideals for painting which come largely from imagination and that each creation of art can be different, some beautiful and some not, but all part of the process, even if produced by the same artist. I cannot say that there is a right and wrong way of painting because each artist will have something to contribute and I see merit in the energy that each can provide. I like to discover new energies and momentums and I feel that I am at the beginning of a very exciting journey. I paint mostly in watercolour and also work a lot with paper collage, mixed media and enjoy oil painting.

I lived in London all my life and really only started to paint much later on when I had already started my family.  I was always artistic in different ways, quite temperamental.  I loved acting on the stage, speaking poetry aloud, singing in choirs or just for myself and loved to draw at a very young age.

In my 18th year, while still at school, I enrolled in The Camden School of Art, where I spent a couple of years learning to draw and paint with life models and experimenting with materials and ideas in collage.  It was in these classes that I compiled a portfolio which eventually, together with other qualifications brought me to some of my formal art training at Harrow School of Art in London.  I spent a year exploring all forms of creative art making, including printing, textiles, plasterwork moulding and 3D forms, coupled with drawing, painting and photography.  I was then accepted to do a diploma course in Interior Design at North London Polytechnic.  After graduating I fell into the design career, working with architects and designers for over 20 years.

It wasn’t until many years later, married and with a young daughter that I started to paint again in earnest.  In 1992 I started extending and developing ideas with Margaret, a Danish Painter and Textile designer and with whom  I really started to paint in watercolour.  I studied with her for eight years and found a new confidence.  I had my first exhibition in 2000 and when she could no longer carry on, took over teaching of her studio.  In 2003 my husband and I sold our house in London and moved to Andalucia, Southern Spain  to find a new life.   So here I am finally living in the beautiful surroundings of the valleys and mountains of the Alpujarra, where I am working as a teacher and an artist.

Since moving to Spain my exhibitions include:

Galeria Mondrian, Almunecar, Granada Spain; 2006

Sala de Alpujarra, Orgiva, Granada Spain; 2007,

Oficina de Tourismo, Llanjaron, Granada Spain; 2007,

The Sandpit Club, Chite, Lecrin Valley, Granada Spain.2007

My House Gallery, Orgiva, Granada, Spain, 2009

Pizzeria Restaurante, La Almazara, Orgiva, Granada, Spain, 2009

I think that many people have influenced me in my creative life.  Perhaps the most significant  have been my life drawing teacher, who taught me form with great boldness using charcoals and heavy pencils, putting every unseen line down, point to point repeatedly,  and then removing the muddle with rubbers to bring a simplicity; my collage teacher, who particularly brought my attention to structure and composition, and Margaret, who taught me all I know in watercolour painting and gave me a real inspiration to experiment with texture and using different media to develop the art of painting with watercolours.

My next exhibition is at the end of June 2009 and I feel that this will be a bringing together of many of my skills developed over the past seventeen years of my life as a painter.