Fresh Paint
Annabel Playfair
The oil painter Annabel Playfair learned her craft in London
and Paris but now she is firmly ensconced in the rural idyll,
working out of her home studio near Chipping Norton on
the edge of the Cotswolds.
Like the Post-Impressionists before her, Annabel’s focus
is often on depicting the good life: the turquoise waters
of a Cornish estuary, olive groves on the rolling hills of
Tuscany or Provence, still life compositions depicting
seafood or freshly-picked flowers artfully arranged in vases.
While Interior with Girl Reading features a scene very
much in keeping with that atmosphere of enjoyment and
indulgence, with her engrossed subject surrounded by
flowers, art books and colourful soft furnishings, the
painting nevertheless represents something of a departure
for the artist. It was inspired by the interior scenes of the
New English Art Club’s Susan Ryder, a family friend whose
work Annabel first got to know during her time at art school.
Annabel only returned in earnest to painting six years
ago, after raising four children had kept her hands well and
truly full. She began again with still life, then landscapes,
and this first interior scene represents “part of that
progression” she says.
“The scene is actually in my house in the Cotswolds and
the model started off as my daughter, but I didn’t want her
to be recognisable, so I then remodelled her face and hair
in order for the painting to become more generic.”
Annabel’s skill at drawing the figure was borne of an
intensive year studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris,
working from a life model every day. “Studying the human
form made me really look at my subject matter,
incorporating perspective, tonal appreciation, colour and
the relationship between the figure and how they interact
within their surroundings,” she says. “I wanted to return to
the human form but in a looser setting, such as a colourful
and textured room where the figure is a part of the overall
composition but not the sole focus.”
That democratic approach to the scene extends to
Annabel’s handling of colour, with all ends of the palette
explored and balanced across the room. She honed her
skill with colour to a foundation year at the City & Guilds
of London Art School, when a whole term was devoted to
painting in just two colours: one cool, one warm. “This is
how I learnt the importance of shade and shadows, and to
be able to mix the correct colour for them.”
Annabel Playfair: Colour and Light runs from 8 September
to 3 October at the Fosse Gallery, Stow-on-the-Wold,
Gloucestershire. http://www.annabelplayfair.co.uk