I live with my husband and cat in Chorley, Lancashire – which has been my home for the past 28 years – and have turned one of my spare bedrooms into my painting studio/work room to accommodate my growing love of painting and patchwork quilting.
My favourite inspiration for paintings is the birds and wildlife of the British Isles, and I really enjoy the challenge of capturing the depths in the eyes of whichever creature I’m working on, because I feel that’s where you truly see the soul of the being inside the form. Some of my other work is pet portrait commissions, and that is especially important for those works to allow the owners to connect with the painting of their friends.
Another passion for me is the sea, and I’ve been fortunate to have spent many happy holidays, from an early age, on Anglesey with my grandparents, and later with my parents when they moved to live there. The beautiful coastline of the island, with its stunning and often secluded bays and views over Snowdonia, fills me with inspiration and I think I’ve probably seen the place in every mood possible. Some of my landscape paintings are from photos I’ve taken from that area.
As a self-learning artist (I don’t think I’ll every stop learning!), I find that using the different media of watercolour, inks, line and wash, acrylics and pastels, offers me the variety with which to ‘break rules’ and mix media together to create the look I want to achieve. I don’t allow myself be restricted into working with one ‘pure’ medium, if I feel that a better painting could be done by bringing in other aspects and textures.
I have a particular fascination for ‘views beyond views’, which is why I have put some of my landscape paintings into the series of ‘Doorways, Gateways and Portals to Beyond’. Images where you can see beyond the obvious view in front of you, to something distant, full of possibility and maybe unseen by others, is very thought-provoking for me, so I have concentrated on some views like this which I’ve found around my home area and Anglesey.
For future work I’d like to continue to develop my skills further and produce more unique and interesting pieces to share.
Website: www.evendawn.co.uk