Fence Painting

I am a painter and art teacher working in Clitheroe Lancashire since 1987. I often paint places that have special meaning to me, but lately have been interpreting text and narrative in collaborative work as well as still life. I have shown my work at the Haworth Gallery Accrington, England as well as at venues in the south like The Old Fire Engine House, Ely, Cambridgeshire. I like to use free expressive brush marks and often work to a large scale both in painting and drawing. Painting is central to my days and weeks in a way that is becoming increasingly important at this time in my life. I'm essentially a colorist and love to make pieces that evoke a sense of place and atmosphere, whether landscape, still life or interiors. I like to use energetic gestural marks though the marks themselves are only a small part of the process. Painting and drawing are with me as a background to my days in a living way. They become something other once I leave them and take on a life of their own. I'm thinking about what to take back and bring forward all the time in current work. The peace I find at the easel in a session that goes well is addictive. I hope to connect with folk in a very real way and communicate my state of mind and heart through the work and my response to the world. I'm surprising myself at the moment in the way I'm enjoying working to someone else's brief as well. I've been teamed up with a poet by the arts group Artipeeps based in Cambridge England, and completed a painting in response to a poem based on the theme "Anxiety and Release". These challenges push me in new directions. I alternate such ventures with self-directed motifs and themes. This rhythm of collaboration then retreat into more personal responses seems to suit me very well at the moment. I'm curious and interested where all this will take me. I always remain open and receptive to ideas and inspiration around me and use meditation and responses to nature to help me find my direction. heatherburns.co.uk