Click to Amanda's Cards

Art Cove: What or who inspired you to paint?

I’ve been painting since I was at school – it seems to be in my genes! My master’s degree in business led me to silk painting, strangely, as I met a silk painter there! I just went into a shop and said ‘give me everything I need to get started!’. I still paint on silk but have also branched out further into watercolour, then inks (for the ‘fish in frocks’) then inks overlaid with big gouache florals. I love photographing flowers and spend a lot of my holidays doing that. So the combination of all this, plus enjoying looking at contemporary textiles, has inspired my ‘Pucci’ range (like ‘Moonshine Shy‘ and ‘Foxy Loxy‘).

Art Cove: Do you paint to set times or when the inspiration comes?

It’s a bit of a mix. I tend to only have set times when I can do it because of work and family commitments, but sometimes when I get started, it doesn’t work out that well because the inspiration wasn’t there as well.

Art Cove: We see your work is in the US Embassy in Jamaica and the British Embassy in Tajikistan. That’s quite some way from North London isn’t it?

It sure is!   We are friends with an ambassador no less, as well as the senior administrative bunny in Jamaica. It’d be good to get my works in more embassies really!  Or I could settle for palaces even. Wonder if Wills & Kate might be looking for something!

I was making them laugh, dressing them in bikinis and sunglasses…

Art Cove:  We have some of your “Pucci” and “Fish in Flocks” cards.  Two very different styles and techniques.  How did they come about?

Both ranges use inks and pearlescents but that’s about all they have in common. ‘Pucci’ grew up along the lines I outlined although there was another key factor – I’d seen a really intriguing, and messy (!) technique in a specialist art magazine that I wanted to try. It gives the atmospheric background to the works and involves spraying lots of ink and water through a mesh. It took quite a lot of practice to get it right but I’m pleased with it now. I only feel inspired to paint these in rather large format so needed a smaller range for people with smaller spaces to fill. ‘Fish in Frocks’ grew up from some doodles I was doing with my children when they were small. We were drawing ducks and I was making them laugh, dressing them in bikinis and sunglasses. A few years later I resumed that doodling and found myself migrating to fish. Well I am a Pisces after all!

Wave

Art Cove: Your website mentions a third range (in oil) on it’s way. Want to give us a sneak preview or tell us more – will there be cards?

Fronds

I can give you a sneak preview actually – you tell me if you think they’d work as cards?!  If so, I’ll get some done!  They’re 40cm square, a size inbetween my two other ranges. They’re on box canvas whereas the others are on paper and framed. I do them with a palette knife and have been having great fun, and getting in a big mess every time.

Art Cove: So you were at the Reading Contemporary Art Fair this month. What’s coming up next – where can we see you?

I currently have an exhibition in a lovely local pub that’s recently been refurbed – the Queens Head in Winchmore Hill, London N21. And I’m thinking of exhibiting in the Autumn at Windsor Contemporary Art Fair. What I’d really like is for a gallery to represent me at the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea.

About the Author

Art Cove: We sell greeting cards, but obviously not enough to stop us writing on all manner of (tenuously connected) art subjects. We are also known as Debbie, Annita and David.

Under: Featured Artists 2 Comments