The next in my series of conversations with artists.
Read about South Staffordshire based artist Amy Rhodes in her own words. Discover where the inspiration for her expressive landscape paintings comes from and what she likes to drink when she's painting!
What sparks your initial ideas for a piece? Is it a feeling, an image, or something else entirely?
Colour! I love how the light hits the landscape and the changes in colour! I’m constantly stopping to take photos, beautiful views, fab skies, pretty flowers. Colour for me evokes different feelings.
Do you have a specific routine or ritual to get into a creative head space?
My loft studio is the place I go to get creative. Even on the days I don’t feel as creative, I head to my studio and sketch or play with paint to try and get into the right head space. I find if I’m feeling down I put on my favourite playlist to lift me up.
Do you have a plan for a piece before you start, or do you allow it to develop organically?
It depends, sometimes I’ll have a few sketches or photos I’ll work from, sometimes I just have an idea in my head and just start painting. I find when it comes straight from my head my work is more expressive and slightly more abstract - the painting takes me on a journey.
What's your biggest "happy accident" that turned out amazing in a piece?
Not sure what my biggest ‘happy accident’ has been but quite often I’ll put too much paint down or a rogue colour will get on my brush, usually it just seems to work out.
Do you have any lucky tools or materials you can't work without?
I’ve had my easel since I was about 15 so that feels pretty special.
What's the most challenging part of your artistic process?
Knowing when I’m finished with a painting, I’ll sometimes leave the painting a few days to see if I feel more needs adding… My own head, doubting myself, doubting the painting or if I’ve just painting a piece that I love - I wonder whether I’ll ever be able to create that again!
What piece of yours are you most proud of, and why?
I had about a year off painting, the first painting I did after that year - ‘happiness again’. It just came so easy, it was a joy to paint.
If you could have your art evoke one specific emotion in a viewer, what would it be?
I would hope to bring a bit of happiness but happy for the viewer to take what they will.
Who are your artistic heroes, and how have they influenced your work?
Whilst at school and university I loved life drawing - figurative painting and painting portraits, I was always fond of Lucian Freud and the way he painted figures - I liked his impasto style. I also adored Picasso and his many different movements, (a very long time ago) in GCSE Art I remember recreating my own version of Picasso's Guernica, I remember it so vividly! And then the other greats such as Matisse, Van Gogh, Dali, Kahlo, Hockney - these were the artists that inspired me right from the start.
Does your art ever surprise you with where it ends up taking you?
It really does, I can fall in love with a painting as soon as I’m putting the first layers down and then find that same painting incredibly frustrating to get ‘right’ Some paintings take me on a journey, I have an idea in mind but it doesn’t always work out how I’d planned.
If you weren’t an artist, what would you be doing?
I can’t imagine not doing something creative! If I happened to be living in America working for Disney creating animated films would be pretty fun!
What are your ‘must have’ snacks and drinks when in the studio?
Definitely Tea - a strong Yorkshire tea or green tea and something sweet like biscuits, malted milk are the perfect ‘dunker’.
What's the best piece of artistic advice you've ever received?
Dont use black, my art teacher at secondary school told me to mix a bit of blue to make different skin tones instead of black. I still do that today - I rarely use black opting for paynes grey or blue.
You are hosting a dinner party and have invited 3 other artists (living or dead), who would be on the guest list?
Oohh that’s a hard one, I've recently been listening to the great women artist podcast and have discovered some incredible female artists with fascinating life stories, Leonora Carrington was one of them, a Surrealist painter with a remarkable life story.
Recently I’ve been admiring the work of Lee Krasner, an abstract expressionist painter married to Jackson Pollock but who carved out her own career as an artist.
There are so many others but actually the one person who inspired me the most would be my Grandmother, she was an incredibly talented painter, one of her first jobs was painting florals on lampshades. Although she wasn’t a full time artist, she was always creative and she passed on that love of creating to me. I’d love to have a good chat with her and tell her all about my work - it’s been a long time without her.
Thank you so much for these fantastic insightful answers Amy, it's wonderful to find out more about your art practice.
Amy's work has been super popular and I have some gorgeous bright pieces full of joy still available here
Comentarios