LARA BOWEN
SUNSHINE &
STOLEN MOMENTS
"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 the eyes and sketchbook 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. These paintings 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!
THE GARDEN
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MYKONOS
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HAMMOCK I
The first paintings of a new series exploring the beauty of Golden Palms. I spent three wonderful weeks in Australia in December 2019, staying with my family at their home. These stunning and slender palms line the pool and divide the garden from the park behind where so many tropical birds live.
The clean light darts through leaves as they move in the breeze, shooting golds and greens and blues and pinks at you.
HAMMOCK II
Lying in the hammock in my cousin's garden in Queensland. Eyes half closed. I watch the light jump through the leaves of the golden palms around the pool and hear the kids' mega splashes as they jump in. Someone from my family is making a coffee, laughing .
Add these sounds and the birds and the breeze and I was in heaven.
I made some sketches in that hammock and took a ton of photos which I work from in my studio.
AFTER THE RAIN
This painting has found a new home but I am working on new a series of Golden Palm paintings.
HAMMOCK III
As I explored the new subject matter and played around with techniques the paintings have become less literal and more expressive. Hammock III is the one on the right in the middle.
This painting has found a new home but I am working on new a series of Golden Palm paintings.
ALMOST PARADISE 1
Continuing on the Golden palm theme
ALMOST PARADISE 2
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HAMMOCK I
The first paintings of a new series exploring the beauty of Golden Palms. I spent three wonderful weeks in Australia in December 2019, staying with my family at their home. These stunning and slender palms line the pool and divide the garden from the park behind where so many tropical birds live. The clean light darts through leaves as they move in the breeze, shooting golds and greens and blues and pinks at you. Add the sounds and it was impossible not to be mesmerised.
AFTER THE RAIN
Lying in the hammock in my cousin's garden in Queensland. Eyes half closed. I watch the light jump through the leaves of the golden palms around the pool and hear the kids' mega splashes as they jump in. Someone from my family is making a coffee, laughing . Heaven.
HAMMOCK II
Lying in the hammock in my cousin's garden in Queensland. Eyes half closed. I watch the light jump through the leaves of the golden palms around the pool and hear the kids' mega splashes as they jump in. Someone from my family is making a coffee, laughing . Heaven.
This painting has found a new home but I am working on new a series of Golden Palm paintings.
MILES AWAY
My lockdown painting ... though it has been on and off my easel for a few months. Then, after a couple of months away from the studio, I went in and this was resolved. Its all about the green, the lush spring we had, and how sunlight makes lots of things better.
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.
SOL
Something in this painting is channeling a recent weekend break to trip to Seville. The colours remind me of the buildings and the tiles in a café where I enjoyed a very good coffee.
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!
WINDOW BOX
Inspired by beautiful window boxes packed to the brim with ranunculus and pelargoniums. My aunt's garden in Carrara is like this; wonderful flowers growing in interesting ceramics and seen with strong like and the equivalent dark areas of shadow in between.
WATER
RUMINATION
Painted after a visit to Monet's wonderful garden in Giveney, this painting is from a photo I took of a quiet corner of the ponds. I was intrigued by the shadows and reflections and wanted to get lost in trying to work out how to depict this in paint.
cala formentor i
One of a pair of experimental studies in oil, ink and encaustic (wax) responding to light and reflection on the rock on the Mallorcan beach. It is framed in a wide off-white wood frame.
REFLECTION I
One of three small experimental studies in oil, ink, graphite and encaustic (wax) responding to light and reflection on lake water. The wax gives the pieces translucency and texture which adds depth to the painting. It is framed in a wide off-white wood frame.
LA BADIA
The big sister of Cala Formentor I and II, this painting is an abstract colour study inspired by the clear blue water and glistening rocks on Mallorca's north west peninsular. I used ink, wax and oil paint to build texture and create areas of both translucency and depth.
cala formentor II
One of a pair of experimental studies in oil, ink and encaustic (wax) responding to light and reflection on the rock on the Mallorcan beach. It is framed in a wide off-white wood frame.
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 gives the pieces translucency and texture which adds depth to the painting. It is framed in a wide off-white wood frame.
