Author: Kirsty Johnson

Every time I visit Southwold (about once a year) I still find something new and exciting to motivate me and make me want to investigate further.

Whenever I visit a location that has creativity involved I will always take with me a notebook and pen so as to remind my self of my new discoveries. 50% of the time I find no internet link to the artists or designer I am looking for, which is a shame with most of the world being digital and fully engaged with the world wide web; But hey ho they lose out on being mentioned on here.

The first artist on my list is Chrissy Norman with her etchings of the seaside and trees, the colours that she uses are romantic in a way as if trying to tell the viewer a story or what will happen next in the still image. This fuels the viewer into wanting to see more of her images and to see if they can find another seen or a clue in background of the image as to what is going to happen in the silent and paused image. http://www.chrissynorman.co.uk/ Her work is found in the Southwold Gallery down the High Street amongst other artists to purchase if one wanted to.

Another mesmerising artist is Tessa Shedley Jordan who paints still life (mainly vegetables) with watercolour, they seems alive on the paper as if one is able to reach in and take a piece to eat. The palate used is very bold and only enhances its freshness from the day it was painted. They are all fairly large allowing the viewer to see the many layers that make up the image presented to them. http://www.tshedleyjordan.co.uk

My favourite finding of the day I have left till last which is local artist Amelia Bowman with her sharp lines and pattern making up seaside imagery, the example I have given below is just the tip of the iceberg on how she manipulates imagery.  Even by using different pattern in the image it still works well, and although the colours are not accurate you still cant stop looking at the image. No more words can discribe how much I love her work, so please just follow the linkhttp://www.ameliabowman.co.uk/index.html

some others which would make a good motivating tool are as follows

Marc Brown – http://www.marc-brown.com/page3.htm

Nicola Hart – http://www.harts-art.co.uk/home

Kate Batchelor – http://www.kate-batchelor.co.uk/index.html

Jill Desborough – she doesn’t have a website as such but can be find by searching for her. In particular her etchings and mrs Thackray are good

I have been studying the works of Vermeer looking closely at his technique and ways of presenting interior to the viewer. I chose to study Vermeer because his paintings are very realistic and informative of a particular era, that is very different from the way we live today. When I visited the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, I came across Vermeer’s paintings and was surprised by his detailed technique and his tendency to use views through door frames that work like a frame in itself to draw the viewers attention, into the painting to focus the viewer.

Vermeer painted his now famous images in the late 17th century, the age of the Stuart’s. This is demonstrated in his paintings through the style of clothing the subjects are wearing, the decoration and patterns in the interiors, and through the decor. For example hie use of maps and popular imagery of the time, like his reference to pastoral scenes to symbolise sex, as in ‘Women seated at virginal’ and ‘Women standing at virginal’. One of his first paintings, ‘Christ in the house of Mary’ done in 1654-5, is not as famous as those painted from 1668 to 1675. Vermeer died in December 1675 at the age of 43.

I think Vermeer painted what was I front of him, as if recording his life in his paintings. He painted women in interiors; relaxing , reading letters or engaged in dramatic or private tasks. He may have also worked in the way he did because of inspiration gained from numerous artists who visited an inn called ‘Mechelen’, inherited from his father in 1652. In addition, there is the suggestion that Vermeer