PF: Who or what has influenced your work the most?
There are so many things I could say; Dutch golden age painting, historical and contemporary fashion, my love of fiction; but really the root of my practice draws from my own experiences (I’ve never been very good at separating the art from the artist, even with myself!). Like many women, I’ve spent most of my life conditioned to shrink - metaphorically and physically - to behave and dress in a certain way, to not be too much or take up too much space. The figures I paint are very much the opposite of this - I see them as personas of self, a chance for me to ‘play dress up’ and try out a different way of being through the process of painting. I think about Cindy Sherman a lot in the studio and how she worked, turning herself into different characters.
PF: Walk us through your creative process?
The planning to drawing stages of a new painting are the most time consuming for me. At the moment I’m using old master paintings (mostly from the Dutch Golden Age) as a compositional starting point. I then abstract, subtract and manipulate bits of the work, adding in figures using my self as a reference - often in the place of powerful, domineering men. This part is pretty controlled, but once a painting is drawn out on the canvas (or linen - always clear primed) then the painting process is heavily led by energy and intuition. I work in fast 1-2 hour bursts over several days or weeks, focusing much more on gesture and mark-making than worrying too much about accurate representation.
PF: What do you want people to feel or take away from your art?
That’s a big question - I once had a friend say she felt really seen by my work and I think that’s probably the best compliment I’ve ever had… but it’s obviously not going to do that for everyone. I suppose in some sense I hope it makes people contemplate their own experiences living in a female body (or that of those around them); which are often diminished or ignored, even by ourselves. But even if it just makes people take a moment to reflect or feel something, whatever that emotion might be, that’s good enough for me.
PF: How important is the viewer’s interpretation versus your intention?
Everyone is going to interpret a painting differently based on their own lived experiences, and paintings often take on a life of their own outside of the artist’s control - it’s part of it, and not something that worries me too much. Sometimes it can even lead you to discover something entirely unexpected that you hadn’t been able to see yourself.
PF: If you could have dinner with any artist who would it be?
I’d probably have to say Alice Neel, ideally in her New York apartment & studio. Besides being one of my favourite painters of all time, I bet she’d be a fun time and full of stories - honestly, what a woman.