Lauren Esplin feels most herself with her feet sunk deeply into the sand, cool sea on her skin, and taste of salt on her lips.
Her contemporary paintings combine abstracted coastal landscapes featuring emotive markings with detailed figures.
“I look to capture the moment, not as it was, but as it was felt”.
Lauren seamlessly integrates elegantly detailed figures into emotive environments that echo the familiar. Beach Culture is deeply entrenched in human nature, and this intriguing juxtaposition is compelling and draws you effortlessly into the paintings and into your own nostalgia.
With the merging of impressionist, abstract and figurative styles emerges a response to the coast that connects deeply to the human psyche.
“There is a reason we flee to the sea for our weekends and holidays. It is a both a healing and contemplative environment but also a joyful place and I wish to bring this feeling into our homes”.
The result are dreamy contemporary artworks described most plainly as;
“Considered composition. Intuitive colour. Emotive markings. Careful detail”.
Lauren uses acrylic paint on canvas. She loves the vibrancy of acrylic paints and the speed in which they dry is also important to her practise. While her figures are usually painstakingly slow, her abstracted coastal landscapes are often painted with emotive markings in a flowing expression of the environment. She also loves that they can be thinned to create drips and transcalency similar to that seen in water at the beach.
Lauren lives and works on Guringai country (Northern Beaches, Sydney), and while she studied art at school, she believes her formal education took place years ago in a scout hall near Curl Curl Beach where she painted with a group of female artists belonging to a local art collective.
“Their diverse range of styles impressed upon me and the nurturing atmosphere helped me through a difficult time in my life and propelled me on this journey. I will never forget their impact”.