Lucy Gow

About

Belfast born artist now living in Northamptonshire working in oils creating contemporary landscape art

Statement

The lanes I drive down every day, the hedgerows that change with the seasons, the fields catching the evening light. They are ordinary, really, but I never seem to get tired of looking at them. There is always something that changes — a different light, a different colour, a familiar view seen in a slightly different way. I don’t paint these places exactly as I see them. I’m interested in how they feel after I’ve returned to them again and again. I use colour to play with colour, allowing colours to shift and interact rather than simply describing what is in front of me. Mark-making is my way of describing perspective, movement and space. I often begin with an underpainting, allowing warmth to come through the layers above. That warmth helps to bring the painting together and gives the surface a sense of depth. I’m drawn to the physicality of paint — the way it can be built up, moved around and left visible — and to surfaces that have a physical quality of their own. This way of working was particularly rewarding in my recent exhibition at Tremenheere Gallery, Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, where I brought together both small and large paintings. Seeing the work at different scales made me more aware of how the physical presence of a painting can change our experience of a familiar landscape — from something intimate and almost private to something that surrounds you. The paintings come from quiet, familiar moments: rounding a bend, seeing the light disappear behind a hedge, or noticing how a field looks different at the end of the day. They are about looking closely at the places that are already part of everyday life and finding something new within them. There is a familiarity in these paintings, perhaps bringing to mind a special place, a familiar road, or a moment that feels like home.

Education

• 2023—, Birmingham City University , Birmingham

Exhibitions

Recognition

Commissions

I take commissions for abstract landscape work