Louise Sharps
WILDFLOWER SERIES
WILDFLOWER SERIES
I prefer wildflowers to cultivated planted flowers because they are self-seeded, wilder and free. They're more jumbled, tangled and a mix of different colours and shapes. Its an unexpected surprise when you find them in a corner of a farmer's field or in woodland. Some landowners might regard them as weeds, but as pollinators they play an important part in adding to the diversity of our landscape.
I love the variety in size and shape from the smallest blue flowers of Germander Speedwell to the spikiness of Welted Thistles or the bold clusters of Red Campion. I enjoy researching the different wildflowers, especially historical alternative names for them and the meaning behind them. These names are not so widely known today and it can help me find titles for my paintings!
"The Bluebell is the sweetest flower
That waves in summer air
It's blossoms have the mightiest power
To sooth my spirit's care"
- Emily Bronte
"To seen this flower against the Sunne spread, when it upriseth early by the morrow, that blissful sight softeneth all my sorrow"
- The Eye of the Day by Goeffrey Chaucer
FADED FLOWER SERIES
In this series of paintings I wanted to use flowers in my work but without going down the botanical painting route. I have always loved photographing flowers when I visited formal gardens. Their bold colours and shapes appeal to me. I liked the combination of something recognisable within a more abstract painting. I felt it was important to use my own photographs as collage pieces as I wanted it to be all my own work. Photography for me is just another form of my creative expression.
I wanted to create a faded effect as it links to my love of Brocante style especially aged worn paint. Things that are timeworn have a history to tell of previous places they once lived in. I wanted my paintings to feel as if they were found, discovered, something that had been exposed to the elements. The layers and lines like ghostly remnants of previous times. I wanted the viewer to see these marks and collage remnants and not quite know what they had been in the past.
SEA EROSION SERIES
My idea for this series is the beach close to where I live. In particular the sea erosion taking place there as the water erodes the coastline and remaining defence structures. The shingle is in a constant state of flux and movement as it cascades down into the fields behind.
The climate issues the world faces concerns me. I can see here on this stretch of coast how the sea can take back the land. The repetitive nature of the waves causes the groynes to be revealed and then concealed by the incoming tides. It is a dangerous place to swim or sunbathe. The old sea defences are large, unwieldy blocks of concrete tilted at strange angles making it hard to clamber over.
I particularly like the shape of the wooden groynes that used to act as beach dividers, now disintergrating. The individual groynes remind me of standing stones, pitted and carved out by the weather and salt water. Slowly they are being cleared away and my sketches and paintings are a record of their existence. Storm surges in Winter constantly alter this bit of coastline as the fields are flooded. As sea levels rise and coastal erosion continues this is a place which will eventually disappear beneath the waves. I believe the plans for the future is for this area to be turned into a wetland nature reserve.
