Hi Sue, thank you for speaking with us. We are very excited to be hosting your exhibition 'Touched by Light'. Your ability to capture light is truly remarkable. When you're starting a new piece, how do you balance light, colour, and composition to create that delicate harmony?
It’s really a matter of ‘looking through’ the scene. I start by choosing the middle ground – especially when painting interiors. Then I might arrange a still life in a foreground and open a door or turn on a light in the distance to lead the eye back. In terms of light, I use a Hollywood Lamp, angling and dimming it to capture the eye. This is very important to me.
I begin with a pencil sketch to plan the design and decide whether the painting should be landscape, portrait, or square, stretching the canvas as needed. I lay down some initial colours – beginning with tube of viridian, then cadmium red and ochre, rubbing it all over the canvas. After this, I will use my turpy rag to gently rub away the lighter shapes, at which point the ghost of the design will start to come through.
Using a large hogs’ hair brush, I then start painting. One 9-year-old sitter thoughtfully asked: “Do you do the easy bits first?”. I do tend to start with what excites me. It is in these steps that I find the balance and set the foundation for the painting.
(PICTURES: Pencil sketch for ‘Fireside Tables’, and final piece. Pencil sketch for ‘Fireside Flowers’ and final piece)
Your classical training at the Byam Shaw School is evident in your work. How has that early education shaped your artistic style and in what ways has your approach evolved since then?
I started at the Byam Shaw art school just after my 17th birthday, following six months in Blois, France. There, I discovered Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard. Encouraged by my inspiring Byam Shaw teachers Bernard Dunstan RA and Maurice de Sausmarez, my final Thesis after three years was comparing the interior light of Vermeer and Vuillard. Although I haven’t consciously changed my style over the years, I began by painting on hardboard, which requires very different brush marks to those I use now. I sometimes feel I could have developed these stronger marks – Vuillard began with much bolder strokes and tightened them with each commission. Nonetheless, I found my passion for light early on and that has stayed with me.
You paint both indoors and outdoors—what draws you to a particular setting, and how do you bring out the unique story of each space through your paintings?
To me, my exteriors are really just extensions of my interiors. Terraces with glasses on tables and jackets on the backs of chairs. I am drawn to water and high horizons too, which allows you to really let the foreground lead you in. Painting outdoors comes with its own urgency due to the unpredictable weather – it’s like painting a lively, wriggly child!
(PICTURE: The Pink Border, Carolside – taken at the end of her morning’s painting and final painting)
Portraiture requires a deep connection with the subject. How do you engage with your sitters to really capture who they are on the canvas?
I like chatting with my subjects when painting and letting the paint flow naturally. The less I consciously consider each mark, the better! I often stay with my sitters – seeing them when not posing is a help. Dogs can bring relaxation too.
(PICTURES: Starting ‘Phoebe’, ‘Phoebe’ Day 2 and 'Phoebe' final painting)
Orchids often feature in your paintings, and they’re such delicate flowers. Do you feel there’s a connection between capturing their intricacy and the way you approach other subjects?
Not exactly a direct connection, but I appreciate how orchids guide the eye with their design and shape. I take care to arrange the room so that it feels lived in before starting a painting. This physical arrangement helps me work with the composition on the canvas. More than anything, my paintings are about what I love, and I hope that that passion comes through in each piece.
(PICTURES: ‘View to a Library’, Day 1 and final painting; ‘Drawing Room Orchid’ sketch and final painting)
If you could step into any historical period and paint the interiors of a famous building or home from that era, which would you choose and why?
I’d love to paint a Victorian house, full of clutter, with frills on the lampshades and brocades – those smaller details would be delightful to capture. It reminds me of one of the first paintings I had accepted into the RA summer exhibition when still at Art School. It was of an old lady in a chair, her face glowing in the firelight and by daylight too. I often try to recreate that lamplight vs daylight effect in my paintings, using spotlights to highlight the subject.
You must see the everyday in terms of light - a true gift!
Absolutely. When I am in “painting mode” I notice the intervals between telegraph poles, the lines of a carpet leading towards a desk and even when on the London underground notice exciting paintable subjects!
If you could invite any famous artist, past or present, to collaborate with you on a painting, who would it be and what would you hope to learn from them?
I think I would choose Manet. He was so versatile and excelled in every field: interiors, exteriors, portraits, and flowers. I’m fascinated by his ability to communicate across so many genres. I enjoy painting a variety of subjects myself and would love to learn from his multi-disciplinary approach and to discover how he started each work.