Art is a gateway to the past. As an individual that longs for eras I was too late to experience, I look to the works of famed artists to find them encapsulated. Through my own artwork, they are born anew. Although my work is often reliant on 21st century mediums and methods, my style and subject matter are heavily influenced by the Art Deco period and the Golden era of Hollywood. One of the most notable influences on my practice is Tamara de Lempicka, famed for her Deco Cubist portraiture. de Lempicka captured the zeitgeist of the 1920s by honouring the female form, fashions and angular designs of the period. Unable to steal her glamorous Roaring Twenties lifestyle, I settle for studying her life and work to inspire my own. I have taken both direct reference, with my ‘de Lempicka Inspired Plate’ transferring her painting ‘La Dormeuse’ to ceramic form, and more subtle influences, as seen in ‘Jordan’, an illustration for The Great Gatsby. 

 

Like de Lempicka, my preferred medium is oil paint and my appreciation of realism leads me to paint using the techniques of the old masters. I often build and blend in thin layers on a warm underpainted base to achieve skin-like effects and luminosity. ‘The Old Masters’ exemplifies my technique with areas of translucency and burnt sienna underpaint. My illustrations are produced using coloured pencils, a medium I find more controllable. This gives me the freedom to steer my work more towards photographic realism, like ‘Carol’ and ‘Therese’ for the novel Carol, or a more stylised finish, like my ‘Raven and Swan’ series for Aesop’s Fables.

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My love of literature and creative writing lead me to treat my artworks like my stories. My work is always motivated by a narrative. Take ‘The Widow’ as an example; the image revolves around a character and includes symbolic images to suggest a storyline . Despite this visual narrative, admittedly, my priority in creating work is aesthetics. My artistic aim is always to create beautiful collectible pieces that reflect the lost opulence of the eras I reference in my work and live my life in pursuit of.

 

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