Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
The George Daws Studio
By Georgie Stephens
est. 2024
Artist statement
Love for a place and the art of making
Cornwall, in particular the north Cornish coast, has been a constant in my life in a way such few other things have. Fine Art has not been so consistent a love; But underlying these periods between, has always been an unwavering fondness and necessity for making. Be it textiles, architecture or framing, the joy found in craft has never not been central to my life.
This has led me to a practice of mixed media. I find this approach favourable because of its malleable nature. An array of mediums lends itself to a non-linear painting process, toying back and forth with various layouts and finishes, until the composition is both full and balanced. The particular difficulties of this come in trying to place water, sky, sand and greenery; All sizeable bodies that need to command their own distinct space, to create depth in the landscape. Yet they must also allow for softer moments, where they abstract and spill over into one another, settling in harmony.
Recently, I've focussed on the textures within these silhouettes. Creating intricate details in foliage studies, I aim to mirror the flow of water and the reflections of plant life found within it. Currently I am exploring this through rock pools, creating displays of organic, textural figures. My intention is to depict reflections in the waters surface, merging with glimpses of sea life hidden below. This distortion of different visual realities, alludes to the imposition of the self into the external world. As in the rock pool, reflections of the surroundings block the view of the immediate reality below.
Previously, I explored distortion by drawing townscapes from memory, emphasising more fond moments through exaggerated scales. This core feeling of memory and attachment to a place depicts the day to day joy found there, celebrating the simplicity of domestic fulfilment. Mixed media has aided this continuous study, as the same ideas have been elaborated through a changing selection of mediums, to develop the presentation of thoughts that have been there all along.
Thank you for taking the time to explore my work. Please do contact me for painting details and commission enquiries (or just to chat Cornwall!)
