I have always had an interest in the natural organic world around me, often picking up seed pods on adventures and delighting in the newfound plants and flowers when i was a child. Growing up in South Africa with my mother an avid gardener and father a homeopath and botanist it is no wonder that i have this fascination for this green and imaginative world.
I call myself a botanical artist for the simple reason that most my work is inspired by botanical form, but the truth is that all my work is essentially about me, my process, my observations, my memories, my discoveries and my mind as i try and maintain a sense of childlike wonder for botanical forms and the natural world around me. It is my calm escape from the stresses of my life as time is spent to blur the effects of busy world that refuses to just stop, take a breath and really look at what is often overlooked like a seed, a leaf, a weed or the way the light shifts in the landscape.
My work is strongly process driven and begins through the gathering. I gather ideas on my morning walks, writing, images, sketches and specimens which i often take home and turn into a still life. I continue to sketch, paint and design from the memories and gathered pieces as i research a new find. I deconstruct and pull apart a botanical form like a flower to understand its structure and then reconstruct and reshape the memory of place and form to create my dream like abstracts. The process continues as i sculpt elements in metal, sketching in silver and forging elements together to make my own hybrid in metal or to pull through a designed motif in a light relief and pattern in my ceramics. This style of working allows my work to layer over each other as i swop mediums from painting still life to sculpting. Each form of expression pushes and pulls ideas and enhances my interest as it fuels this creative journey even more.
My work is not complicated but chooses to reflect my own experience. My own way of walking in this world. I hope that others see that there is a quite familiarity in my botanical forms, and that this stirs a memory of their own or at least stirs a curiosity the next time they walk in nature to take in what is often overlooked and to enjoy a still life!
Quote:
"While modern art is sometimes considered conceptual and difficult, still life is generally less complicated. It is familiar, relatable and accessible."
Amber Creswell Bell