PAINTINGS

A tangle of blooms, a snippet of blue sky, a shard of strong sunlight or the brief relationship between a favourite mug and a collection of fresh garden pickings.

Botanical nature is the language in Lara's work. Used as a metaphor for the passing of time these forms also serve to enable and investigation of personal experiences.

Lara plays with colour, composition, media and marks to spark a recall or sensation in the viewer. Joy, contemplation and melancholy are present in these paintings bringing to the viewer the comfort of memories.

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SUNSHINE &

STOLEN MOMENTS

Paintings about sunlight , time out and contemplation.

AVAILABLE VIA MY ONLINE SHOP OR HOVE GALLERY

Spring / Summer 2020

"Painting is just another way of keeping a diary"

Pablo Picasso

Time spent in gardens, beside lakes and exploring rock pools is the input; drinking in the reflections and refractions.

A shady corner of Monet's Garden in Giverny, a hydrangea bush outside a restaurant on the Isle of Skye or the colours of a seaweedy pool on a Pembrokeshire beach. The mental snapshot imprints itself onto the memory via and sits inside the subconscious for a while. When opportunity strikes it pipes up.

These are simply moments. The eventual output is a memory processed and embodied. This evolving series features shards of sunlight and snippets of blue skies between the tangle of growth; the above and the underneath; reflected and shaded; the crystal clear and the murkier, more confusing things. They invite you to focus on the good bits and simple pleasures but sometimes tease you with temptation into a darkness.

SKYE GARDEN

On a road trip to Syke we passed The Three Chimneys Michelin starred restaurant and chanced our luck at getting a table. Sadly they were booked up all summer but I noticed the glorious mutli-coloured Hydrangeas in the garden there and stopped to make note of them. These are they!

REFLECTION II

One of three small experimental studies in oil, ink, graphite and encaustic (wax) responding to light and reflection on lake water. The wax hives the pieces translucency and texture which add to the depth of the piece. It is framed in a wide off-white wood frame.

SOFTLY

This painting makes me think of old leather suitcases with stripy linings and silk scarves with prints of European landmarks on - the vintage sort a woman might wear to keep the hair from her eyes as she zoomed along in her open top sports car on a weekend escape to Cannes. Feminism dreams.

AND I ROSE ABOVE

This piece has evolved over a few years. I listen to a lot of female singer songwriters in the studio and Laura Marling is one of my favourites. If you know her work then you'll know which song this refers to but the painting is about stretching your wings and flying above the stuff that drags you down.

REFLECTION I

SKYWARD

Simply, this is the optimism of the approaching spring but from a slightly lower physical viewpoint. Metaphorically, it was painted at a time when I could see very positive changes occurring in my life. Despite recent events we have had time to fully enjoy the most glorious spring that I can recall.