Kezia Noel-Paton
I have painted since childhood but never had a formal art education, and for many years family life and work as a GP limited my time. Since retirement I have been able to experiment and develop my creative abilities using acrylics, oils, watercolours and many mixed media – with help and inspiration from some excellent tutors and courses.
The Seven Sisters from Seaford Head
“I was fortunate that two of my medical house jobs were in Brighton which gave me a chance to explore Sussex and develop a love for the South Downs, and particularly the Seven Sisters, of which I have painted a number of pictures over the years. I don’t often sketch, but I take photos and look intensively to store images in my head. Composition is very important to me and in this case my interest was caught by the diagonals of the waves reaching away to the distant cliffs and the swirl of the water in the mid-foreground.”
Tree Bole with Lichen, Sherwood
“Trees are wonderful! From the skeletal forms in winter to the intricate shapes and colours of old wood with its lichens and fungi there’s always something to catch the eye, and the possibility of a picture. I keep a camera, or nowadays a phone, constantly on hand – this was painted from photos taken on a walk in Sherwood Forest on a very gloomy day in winter. I needed the photo for the shapes which are so much more subtle than anything I could draw out of my head; the colours were there but needed pulling out of obscurity, and that my head could do better than Photoshop!"
The Little Mermaid
"The inspiration for this picture was from a series of out-of-the-ordinary classes I have attended. It combines an imaginary landscape, a fairytale, and painting in an Impressionist stye. Hans Anderson’s Little Mermaid seemed to me to fulfil all these criteria and I had an enjoyable time with acrylic paints, finally picking out the tails with silver and iridescent hues.
There are a huge variety of paints and media now available; also vast amounts of information on YouTube and other sites. I don’t stick to a particular genre but go to where a picture seems to lead me; my guidelines are “colour, nature, imagination”.