Wendy Smith
I find myself working more and more outside, finding inspiration exploring places that are on the edge of changing environments. The experience is both psychological and emotive, referring to the sense of place, environmental happenings and the experience of immersing myself in the landscape. The exploration includes topographical elements, the textural surface, materiality and weathering combined with an imagined engagement with a place, exceeding a purely visual experience.
I have a curiosity with ‘edgeland’ areas or the overlap where natural wild spaces, untouched by man, meet the more contained, geometric and planned farm areas. Also, the edges where land and sea or rivers meet, the wasteland and transitional spaces created between rural and urban areas. These spaces often neglected or overlooked can become areas of fascination and a rich haven for wildlife. I work with the materials in the landscape, pigments, raw canvas, submerging canvases to absorb and experience the weathering and directly respond to the essence, atmosphere and materiality of that place. In the studio, paintings may develop from these distressed canvases, or they become finished works in themselves.
The work is process led, the environments I explore are pre-selected and the immersion aspect reflects the place and experience of physically connecting with the land or seascape. Photography is also key to my practice being more conceptual with spatial considerations, perceptions and reflective sentiments, contrasting with the richly textured, organic and gestural surfaces of the paintings.
Contact Wendy Smith
- wendyart@gmail.com
- Website
- http://www.wendysmith.co.uk
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-smith-48089013/
- @wendysmithart