I’m researching this artist following a tutor recommendation from Assignment 2 feedback. She pointed me to Lucy Willis’ interior paintings. My first impression when looking at the overview page of the interiors was they were very well made, much more worked out than my first attempts at interiors. I realized the potential of this theme and into what direction I might develop my own interior paintings.

I chose The Music Room, China (37 x 28 cm), The Kitchen Door (56 x 41 cm), The midday Hour (no size given) and the Striped Armchair (43 x 63.5) for a closer look. Looking at the larger web pictures reveals that they are much less detailed than the thumbnails appear to be, which I like even better. The larger and smaller shapes are clearly painted, and this is something I still have to learn. I think it has to do with decision making while painting. I think I am still very hesitant to just paint shapes and make a decision about its colour and value.

There are also nice colour contrasts, for example the orange and blue in the Kitchen Door painting, and this is another aspect I’d like to develop further in my own works.

I was quite impressed reading Lucy Willis’ biography. Born 1954, she was trained in fine art in Britain and then travelled a lot to paint. She also did projects and many commissioned works, and received several prizes. I found her prison project particularly interesting, where she gave drawing lessons to inmates over a period of one and a half year. As there was no formal enrolment, the group was constantly changing, but there seems to have been a lot going on psychologically for the men after they overcame their initial reluctance. I found this interesting because I thought about going into art therapy to combine art practice and teaching with my psychology background. Reading the article was a good reminder of what art is capable to do.

Looking over her other works, I particularly liked the landscape paintings, and chose River Lussa (38 x 56 cm) and The Drop Gate (28 x 37). They are the ones with the most intense contrast and values from very dark to very light, which I think is why I found them appealing.

After seeing so many works by Lucy Willis, I think that I like her paintings a lot and realize that I’m currently working in a similar, realistic style. But I have some reservations about the paintings I made recently and think that perfectioning the realist style is not my goal. I see it as a necessary stage while developing a more personal and abstract way of painting. I don’t know exactly what I’m aiming for, but it should be more generous and more exciting, less laborious with detail work.

Sources

Lucy Willis interior paintings: http://www.lucywillis.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=22&Itemid=47