“The most important aspect of my work is how the light effects what I see,” reveals the British landscape artist Nigel Fletcher.
“The most mundane subject can completely change as a result of the changing light. I find the early mornings and late afternoons the best for that.”
He adds: “I always carry a small digital camera with me wherever I go, even if going to the shops, you never know what might present itself! I often swing the car round and drive back to a place I might have just glimpsed out of the corner of my eye because there was a particular play of light on the landscape or through the trees.” Nigel’s watercolours are “painted quickly and without too much fiddling”.
Printmaker Miranda Halsby agrees that light plays a key role. “Sunlight is very important, giving the full tonal range from light to dark, so important in a good print,” she says. “I am interested in pattern and light, occurring naturally and in man-made environments.”
She adds: “I use the traditional methods of etching and aquatint, making copper plates which are etched in acid and I do all my own printing,” she says. “I differ from earlier printmakers in that I enjoy using colour, sometimes making different colour plates for a print, which are printed one after the other on the same paper. Or all the colours are placed just where I want them on the one plate and then printed. My subject matter is usually representational, the landscape of Dorset and South West France in particular as well as people.”
Future plans include an exhibition with two other artists in June 2013 and teaching a two-day etching course in her studio.
Both artists’ profiles can be seen at www.creativecoverage.co.uk.
