I come from a creative family – my father was a magician, and I was his assistant, and my sister is an actor. From an early age I have been crafting, cake decorating and sewing, but never thought I could paint. I was born in Worcester, and spent the last 14 years of my working life at a university as a support worker for students with disabilities. Many of my students took degrees in Art, and being surrounded by so much creativity rekindled a latent creative spirit in me. I had to paint.
I had my first lesson in painting in oils in 2018 and I knew instantly that this was how I could express myself. The versatility of oils excites me, it allows me to paint freely and explore different techniques of applying colour and creating texture and movement. I love to use a palette knife, scratch or flick paint and see where this leads me. Recently I have started to experiment with acrylics, inks , oil pastels and watercolours and these have opened me up to yet more exciting ways of painting. I am never quite sure what is going to happen and this is quite liberating. I feel it is so important to experiment and open yourself to exploring new techniques – you learn so much from when it all goes wrong.
I can only paint what inspires me. I take my inspiration largely from the places I have travelled to – from the birch forests of Siberia to the local scenery of Worcestershire, and my work is a response to that landscape. I want my work to connect with people, evoking feelings and memories. I am always very happy when people say they can see that I put myself into my paintings as I truly believe this is the case.
Ideas for paintings will start with something that I feel I have to paint, and I will take photographs or maybe sketches. It may sit in my head for months before it starts to take shape. This usually happens when I swim and my mind empties and ideas start to grow. This meant lockdown was a time when I was devoid of creativity, which was a horrible feeling.
I exhibit at The Gallery, Pershore, and past exhibitions for me include Worcestershire Open Studios , Participate in Art at the Royal Porcelain Works Courtyard Arts, the Great Witley Church Art Exhibition, Holloways of Suckley Garden Art exhibition, Herefordshire Art Week , guest artist at local exhibitions and several online exhibitions. I also take part in local craft markets.
In 2020 I was highly commended for my oil painting “Coming Home” in a national art competition. I was so happy to achieve this only 2 years after starting to paint. I also reached the final 10 in the people’s choice of another national art competition in the same year.
Email: artworkbyheatherfarmer@hotmail.com