I enjoy portraying my Caribbean and English backgrounds and find inspiration from the countryside, seascape, flora and everyday activities. I find the challenge of working on and interpreting different subjects, through a twist of abstraction and realism, satisfying.

I spent my childhood immersed in Jamaica’s uniquely sensual blend of sights and sounds. That tropical vibrancy, as expressed through art, song and dance, not to mention the lush natural environment of Jamaica, has stayed with me since those early years, and is readily seen in the bright colours, sense of movement and swirling figures which characterise my work.

The creative process is a highly intimate and personal experience. My work is perhaps best seen as a dialogue between my own experiences and memories, and objective reality. Dramatic and daring, it is poised between abstraction and a more orthodox sense of representation.

A key part of that process is exaggeration. My art is based on a heightened reality, which invites the viewer to engage in a process of interpretation and active participation in creating meaning. I also want the viewer to visualise the physical process and the medium involved, to see close-up the end of that brushstroke and the movement of the palette knife that lend my work its own spontaneity.

I work primarily in oil and acrylic, and also in watercolour, ink and bleach. I particularly love the texture, feel and character of oil and acrylic on canvas, which help to keep the work loosely painted. As such, the end result may be far removed from what I envisaged at the start of the process, adding to the joie de vivre that is present in all of my work.

My Caribbean upbringing is perhaps best seen in my tropical floral paintings. Anthuriums and bird of paradise were abundant in the garden of my family home in Jamaica and I use the flora of the island as a source of inspiration; flowers, in particular, bring us back to nature, give us a comforting sense of place and time, and can help to establish an idea of certainty and equilibrium. For similar reasons, I enjoy depicting the English countryside, and my work investigates the diversity of these two, very different, settings.
My work is, in many ways, autobiographical, and one of my intentions is to convey powerful and fresh emotions from my subject matter to the viewer. By working on several canvasses at once, I am able to achieve my aim, as all of my works are in a constant state of development.

My work is often the result of a process of experimentation and exploration. Often I will respond to the painting as much as the work itself responds to me; I enjoy the challenge of answering the needs of the work and forming solutions to the technical and interpretative issues that it raises. I work with layers of colour, washed or scumbled over a textured surface. Lines are straight, curved or gestural; surfaces are wiped, dripped and spattered. And so the work becomes an accumulation of techniques with a contemporary feel, something with gives me huge satisfaction.
My art is self-consciously flamboyant, since I see art in my daily surroundings; in particular, colour is something that speaks to me, and my work is therefore a satisfying vehicle for communication and self-expression.

I started painting in 2003, and I have displayed my work in group exhibitions at the Mick Jagger Centre and St Julian’s Club. I have also shown my work in solo exhibitions at The Ripley Art Centre in Bromley, The Tabernacle Art Gallery in Notting Hill and on a regular basis in Farnborough, Kent. My paintings and articles appear regularly in local magazines, and my work has been bought by collectors around the world.

As well as spending pleasurable hours painting in my garden studio, I was a trained nurse and lectured in anatomy and physiology. I previously ran my own beauty and holistic therapy business. I have worked in the fashion industry and have designed and made evening dresses as well as being involved in interior design. I am an active member of my church, where I host events for other parishioners and I have been chair of the social committee. Family and friends are very important to me; I help to run the family financial planning business and, most of all, I adore spending quality time with my husband and children.

“I will be exhibiting works in the medium for which I am best known, hand coloured etchings. They are produced entirely by hand using techniques several hundred years out of date. In all works there is an element of humour, they are made with love and are for all ages.” www.grahamclarke.co.uk – Graham Clarke

A collection of paintings which are a testament to the Artist’s love of design and its application in a diversity of mediums oil, acrylic and collage, sometimes symbolic of a place or event witnessed, felt or experienced, a moment in time.

Theo Mendez studied textiles and painting at Camberwell College of Art . Later he became Head of the Textile Design Department where he was able to encourage and inspire students to follow their careers.

There are examples of his paintings and designs in the Victoria and Albert Museum, The Museum of London,
King’s College Hospital, The Whittington and Crawley Hospitals.

The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. Whitfield Fine Art. London W1. Highgate Contemporary Art London N6.

Also in corporate and private collections in England, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, France and Italy.
see www.theomendez

The exhibition reflects on migration, exile and disappearance across the urban landscape.

The collection of photographs reflects on migration, exile and disappearance across the urban landscape. Some of the images in the exhibition have been informed by the work of Paul Celan and his disappearance in Paris in 1970.
John lives and works in the area but has spent much of his working life abroad. He recently exhibited work as part of a joint show in York.

Francis McQueen’s work explores the interior world of feelings, emotions, energies and complexes. He believes that our deepest nature is revealed through our creativity – consciously and unconsciously, and that being creative is a way to reconnect with our life journey – Jung called this journey the individuation process. Each artwork is an outward expression of his interior world – a place where the two worlds meet – inner world and outer world.

“I particularly enjoy the process, the creative moment when the paint collides, fights and resists, or when it flows, co-operates or is corralled. This is the most exciting part of the process – the unknown and the unpredictable – and once beyond this, a period of calm ensues, when the paint begins to settle. So each time I begin to work, I am embarking on an adventure, a journey into the unknown using both the materials of the outer world and the emotions of the inner world.”

Mixed media paintings and prints of urban landscapes by Christine Hopkins SGFA
Christine’s work examines how we are influenced by the vocabulary of place. Her subject matter is rarely a recognisable landmark, yet evokes a response from the viewer ‘I know where that is’. Christine explains ‘ We all see without looking – absorbing detail subconsciously. Editing this with an artist’s eye produces work that has a comforting familiarity, whether in paint or print’.

Christine is drawn to linear shapes and graphic landscapes.

‘I love urban landscape and interiors, particularly those less glamorous glimpses. The backs of buildings can often reveal more of their personality than the renovated fronts, and an untidy kitchen especially so. I sketch and photograph wherever I go – this enables me to get a real understanding of the location I’m in. But I often distill this in the finished piece, to give more of the flavour of a place rather than an accurate depiction.

My work examines how we are influenced by the vocabulary of place: although the subject matter is rarely a recognisable landmark, yet it evokes a response from the viewer ‘I know where that is’.

Christine explains: ‘We all see without looking – absorbing detail subconsciously. Editing this with an artist’s eye produces work that has a comforting familiarity, whether in paint or print. It gives me enormous pleasure if a viewer sees echoes from their own childhood or other life experience in one of my finished pieces’. The paintings incorporate collage of all sorts – often the contents of the recycling bin will make their way into a painting, or newspapers collected on when travelling. Old train tickets, sheet music and ephemera can be spotted if you look hard enough.

Christine exhibits widely in the South East and in London, and teaches mixed media painting, collage and simple printmaking at the Skylight studio in Reigate. Twice shortlisted for Surrey Artists of the Year (2009 and 2010) she has been voted the best studio in Surrey by visitors.

As part of the Big Draw event, Christine regularly demonstrates unusual drawing techniques at the Menier Gallery in London with the Society of Graphic Fine Art, of which she is a Council member.