Out of the darkness: Julia Chambers 24th September – 18th October 2013

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Out of the darkness: Julia Chambers 24th September – 18th October 2013
Open eve 25th September 7-9pm
A series of oils on Canvas of flower still life – exploring texture, colour, movement and light. Flowers are ephemeral things, not lasting very long but they possess a spiritual quality or essence as natural forms, part of nature and I have tried to convey this in the paintings. Julia Chambers

I studied a Ba hons at Aberystwyth University in the 1980’s and have been practising painting ever since. I have had Exhibitions at Upper Norwood Library, Bromley library and more recently at Ripley in 2011. I enjoy oils because of the consistency and nature of the paint with its cream cheese like quality as I see it which almost makes my mouth water.

I have tried to give a sense of movement to the flowers as if they were in the open air; their meaning as paintings is also connected with occasions and life events and that significance often acts as a catalyst for painting them and also as a record, like a photograph only with the painted surface there is something tactile about the viewers experience

Flowers are ephemeral things, not lasting very long but they possess a spiritual quality or essence as natural forms part of nature and I have tried to convey this in the paintings.

I am also interested in painting flowers as they are in a sense alive, living yet rooted to the ground, motionless. They have the same stimulating effect as deep sea creatures from the depths of the ocean; they have a real strangeness and beauty that stands out in stark contrast to the black background. Some paintings have taken a few hours, others a few weeks and I have returned to them months later. I have tried to be expressive, enjoying applying thick ‘slavers’ of paint like wet plaster or butter.

At the start of the series I was using a great deal of brushwork as in Gerber Bunch. Working on Pansies I began applying layer on layer of paint and to add a more emotional response to the subject. I also feel the thick layers remind me that it’ s almost like working a bas –relief, there is a sculptural process I feel when I am applying the paint.