The Art Studio and The Work
I was born in Edinburgh. Growing up in Scotland and enjoying the vibrancy and intensity of the Scottish landscape and clarity of light, my rich visual appreciation of colour is embedded in my roots as a Scottish Colourist.
Great, great granddaughter of Scottish architect, David Bryce, I have lived and worked in London since 1978. I have exhibited my work nationally and internationally. My exhibition biography commenced very prestigiously at the Royal Academy and John Moores Liverpool Exhibition. My paintings have been filmed for an independent production for Channel 4, and for Lewisham College.
Since 1990 I have taught Fine Art subjects in Adult Education and Colleges. I have also delivered workshops for the Whitechapel Art Gallery, APT Trust and schools throughout London. My teaching experience is rich and varied and always enjoyable. I have a natural empathy with people, which is essential when sharing and teaching new skills.
In 2005, my partner and I founded London Photo Tours and Workshops. We transformed the way in which photography was taught in London, bringing it outdoors away from a stuffy, theoretical classroom into a world of practical experience and of Seeing and Interpretation. We are pround of the work we have done. I have shared photography skills and ways of seeing with thousands of people from around the world. London Photo Tours and Workshops put the word “expert” into photography tuition with over 24 years teaching experience.
My creative work explores two Fine Art disciplines; painting and photography.
My paintings are large, very often, using a 10ft minimum height. I work on unstretched canvas, tacking it directly to the studio floor. This enables me to reach the centre of my paintings. I walk onto the canvas to reach the centre. When the majority of the painting is wet, I attach paintbrushes to a broom handle to enable me to reach the centre. I work on unprimed canvas, staining rich colour hues into the canvas fibres. The work is exhibited unstretched, as the sensitive outer edges is part of the emotional content of the painting.
My paintings are big, bold, generous and colourful. Layers of colour resonate within these paintings as surfaces collide and mingle. The works look best displayed in spaces where you cannot get too far back from them – this enables one to explore the evocative painterly surfaces without trying to create identifiable shapes or forms within the paintings.
The Photography Studio and Light
Since the advent of digital photography, I have incorporated photography more and more into my visual arts practice. Photography is a visual enquiry resonating with emotional intensities of perception, form and space. Core concepts of Art and Design run throughout my photographic practice. Photography is all about light, which I pursue and add to my images with a passion, similar to the way in which colour is central to my paintings. I pursue light with intensity.
Walking with my camera is a visually intense experience in a fast moving City environment. I love the beat!
I continue to work as an educator in the field of Fine Art.
Book photography courses with Lou Smith by following this link, Book Courses