BECKY BLAIR
Colour-filled magical realism
Originally from the Midlands, Becky gained a Fine Art degree from Cheltenham in 1994. Most of her twenties divided between travel and creating commissioned artwork for public commercial spaces. She later evolved her travels to incorporate regular solo shows of her artwork in Australia and the UK as well as taking part in Art Fairs worldwide.
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My latest work is born out of the experience and realisations of a time spent in pause. Time became slippery during lockdowns and all the habits that provide our sense of self were dismantled or reimagined.
This time changed how I approached my painting. My studio moved home, a smaller space, interrupted by the movements of my family. I found working in watercolours was the most appropriate medium. I was happy to work small and liked the freshness and simplicity of the palette. The slow pace of life naturally suited the patient approach of layering the wet colour.
In my daily paintings, my interest was drawn to repeated motifs found in our home, the garden, precious ornaments and abstracted shapes from the views from our house. Imagery distilled down through repetition. Lockdown was a hothouse to grow these new abstract shoots of creative exploration.
This work is about people and connection, as well as simplicity and gratitude for everyday happenings. How we know ourselves through the people around us. The preciousness of loved ones, the thrill of chance encounters, people you see daily but don’t know their names. Our habitual goat paths - or desire lines - become the grooves by which we navigate our daily lives. There is a sense of communing with creativity that I feel about this work, channelling the simplest of intentions and seeing where it leads. Using an abstract language of personal motifs and found shapes, I see these works as conversations; an abstract language conversing inwardly and outwardly. There is space for the viewer to be invited in to play, explore and interpret.
I have found a simpler more stripped-back approach. The process is patient and meditative, I can’t rush them. And although I still head into each canvas with no clear path, I have to take my time as the raw canvas leaves little room for adjustment. This has been a wonderful addition to the work and has provided a practice that feels more freeing than you might imagine. Instead of making me more tentative, it has made me more confident and trusting of my artistic voice.
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Becky's paintings take me on travels and adventures and away from the hum drum of daily life.
The quality of Becky Blair's paintings is undeniable. Her colours bring my home alive and make it look fresh and vibrant. We love her work and will be looking for another one soon.
CURRENT COLLECTION
BECKY'SÂ STUDIO
East facing light floods in and you are high enough that nothing overlooks to distract your eyes. Even on an overcast day, the space is well lit and welcoming.
I've worked with Becky for many years and always reslish spending time with her in her workspace. It's efficient and organised but homely, with a sofa and books, a kettle and favourite things. A home from her very lovely home.
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Conversation flows easily as Becky is a long-time friend as well as a colleague so we jump around topics from art to family to dancing and back again.
Becky is finishing a commission when I visit. There are finished pieces for me to see and canvases in progress, leaning up against walls or drying flat on the floor. There is also a table of small works in the process of being framed up for the gallery.Â
Becky's paintings are always one step ahead of the crowd. She is not an artist to stick to the same story yet her colour palette and technique are instantly recognisible, regardless of her subject matter. Birds, beaches, landscapes or abstracts: compositions created with the use of complex underpainting, glazes and confident use of colour.
Customers regularly come back wanting the work which we were showing 12 months previously, which they have been thinking about all this time. But those paintings have not only found new homes but if they were Australian inspired beach scenes then Becky will have moved onto Sussex lily ponds. Indian crowd scenes to bird-filled trees. Vibrant gardens to the minutiae of childhood treasures.
