painting sketching life-study ceramic sculpture monoprint
two sections at the bottom of the page are of my recent work, and from exhibitions.
PAINTING
I work mainly in oils but sometimes work with acrylic, watercolour or mixed media.
I am inspired by the forces of nature and aim to capture the elemental beauty of say, a pool with vegetation, a path in the autumn Downland or the shadows of a growing night cloud across a land/seascape.
I work from sketches and photographs I make on walks across the Sussex Downs, the cliffs and the beaches. Boats and harbours inspire me with their contrasting forms, the eroded and corroded surfaces of wood and iron and the structural forces of the jetty, groin, the shapes of fishing boats and harbour walls.
SKETCHING
These images are a selection from a wide range of drawings from the human form, landscape, seascape and imagination.
Other drawings in black and white or colour, though made as preparatory studies towards oil or acrylic paintings, may sometimes serve as stand-alone pieces.
LIFE STUDY
The life drawings range from selected A1, A2 and A3 (from large to smaller scale) studies of both female and male models.
I use mainly charcoal, conte crayon, pastels and sometimes pastel with watercolour, on white or variously tinted cartridge paper.
CERAMIC
I have included a selection from my series of ceramic vessels. I hand-build the pieces, using mainly stoneware clays such as craft crank or a grogged white raku body and occasionally a grogged red earthenware.
I make raku bowls from raku clay and after first firing, I use raku glazes. The firing of these pieces is in a specialist raku kiln built and heated with octane gas outdoors.
The chemical content of the glazes and the methods used during and immediately after the firing, contribute to the exciting crackle effect on the surface of the bowl.
SCULPTURE
Some of the figure sculptures are created directly from the life model, which I have then developed and modified into expressive forms.
Most of the sculptures are preceded by drawings I have made from the life model, to explore the qualities of different poses and to become familiar with the character, structure, shape and form of the model.
For many of the pieces I use a heavily grogged clay which gives a pitted, granulated surface and works well for building clay forms. I use different surface treatments to highlight the form and structure appropriate to the sculpture.
MONOPRINT
This range of prints was created using a large glass plate, which is inked up using rollers and water-based inks. Rags and other implements are employed to remove or add detail in creating compositions.
The prints vary considerably in content, from a collection of those I made from seascape and landscape sketches, to a range of figures taken from my life studies, to a group of images inspired by photographs, newspaper cuttings, sketches from family and my imagination.
I use the medium of mono print to explore possible routes toward abstraction in my painting, particularly in the employment of accidental effects and atmosphere.
Each print is a one-off, unique image – thus the title, Monoprint.
examples pieces of ongoing work, and below, images from exhibitions:
RECENT WORK
my creative work in recent months has taken me towards current world issues.
EXHIBITIONS
records of some of my exhibitions.
Maggie Edwards 