LYNN BUSHELL
© Copyright
The unauthorised use
of any image on this web site is forbidden Lynn Bushell 2009
The unauthorised use
of any image on this web site is forbidden Lynn Bushell 2009
about me
My formative years were spent in East Anglia and Kent. At
Edinburgh I had a 'classical' education: life drawing every day,
anatomy classes, lessons in colour theory, lectures on the Old
Masters. Our tutors - Anne Redpath, Elizabeth Blackadder, Sir
Robin Philipson, Leon Morocco and Eugene Carolan - were steeped in
the Fauve tradition and colour was also a vital element in their
teaching. The legacy of rich colour marks out many of the
painters trained in Edinburgh at that time.
Since 1993 I have lived mainly on the west coast of the Normandy peninsula. This is now the subject of most of my paintings, whether abstract or figurative. My landscapes are drawn from sketches of the coast-line and countryside. Although they are realistic, any obligation to the visual reality of the scene ends as soon as the first mark is made on the canvas. From then on, each mark dictates those that follow. In the case of the more abstract paintings, the final image may bear little resemblance to the drawing that inspired it, other than in colour and atmosphere. The sketches speak for the Cotentin. The paintings speak for themselves.
The subject pictures have a different source. Having had to support myself as a painter in early days I chose to do so through writing and the result was that certain pictures developed as 'stories'. 'The Last Supper', loosely based on Caravaggio, envisages a different scenario to the traditional one. 'Fish Suppers at Gauguin's' combines references to Gauguin's Tahiti period with a domestic interior.
I have continued to write and to contribute articles to periodicals and newspapers. A third novel 'Painted Ladies' – set in the studio of the French artist Pierre Bonnard – is due for publication on 1st February, 2019. For some artists, there would be a conflict between the two disciplines. For me, they are two sides of a similar coin. What is important is to choose the right medium for the right message.
Since 1993 I have lived mainly on the west coast of the Normandy peninsula. This is now the subject of most of my paintings, whether abstract or figurative. My landscapes are drawn from sketches of the coast-line and countryside. Although they are realistic, any obligation to the visual reality of the scene ends as soon as the first mark is made on the canvas. From then on, each mark dictates those that follow. In the case of the more abstract paintings, the final image may bear little resemblance to the drawing that inspired it, other than in colour and atmosphere. The sketches speak for the Cotentin. The paintings speak for themselves.
The subject pictures have a different source. Having had to support myself as a painter in early days I chose to do so through writing and the result was that certain pictures developed as 'stories'. 'The Last Supper', loosely based on Caravaggio, envisages a different scenario to the traditional one. 'Fish Suppers at Gauguin's' combines references to Gauguin's Tahiti period with a domestic interior.
I have continued to write and to contribute articles to periodicals and newspapers. A third novel 'Painted Ladies' – set in the studio of the French artist Pierre Bonnard – is due for publication on 1st February, 2019. For some artists, there would be a conflict between the two disciplines. For me, they are two sides of a similar coin. What is important is to choose the right medium for the right message.