News!
You can see my painting “Within Without” at The Lake Artists Society Summer Exhibition at The New Hall, Grasmere, LA22 9TA from 29th July to 6th September 2017. It’s open 10.30am – 4.30pm daily, and is well worth a look if you’re in the Lake District this summer. The Society is very supportive of local artists, offering an opportunity to exhibit alongside their members. Check out their website at http://www.lakeartists.org.uk
©Angela Jackson 2017 Within Without oil on linen 80 x 60 cm
About this work
“Within Without” is an oil painting on linen and is 80 x 60cm. I originally called the piece “Breath” as that is an idea I was playing with at its conception; the present title developed with the painting as I focused on how we’re made of chemical elements found in different combinations in the world around us, and how we’re shaped by our environment (and vice versa). The present title alludes to the connection between our inner and outer worlds as well as the movement of our breath in and out of our bodies. I merged imagery from nature, including crystals which represent an enduring aspect of the earth, and trees which change with the seasons, with the human.
If the image seems complicated, that’s because I think life is! The figure is not clearly delineated because I don’t think our identities always are- we may desire a coherent “self” but this may only be achievable by repression by ourselves or others. Sometimes we don’t live up to our ideals, or we behave in ways our societies deem taboo. As we acquire new information and experiences we may “change our minds”. (This fluidity is one one the things I wanted to express in this work.) Painting a semi-abstract portrait freed me from the constraints of achieving a likeness and allowed me to play with the image to arrive at something less personal, more iconic than a conventional portrait. It wasn’t intentional, but I think the golds, greens and browns render her a bit of an Earth Goddess!
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