Artists & Illustrators — June 2017

16 Artists & Illustrators

Sign up for your own personalised Portfolio Plus

today at http://www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/

register or visit Angie’s profile at

ABOVE Mustard Field Study, http://www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/angiewright

acrylic, 75x115cm

ANGIE WRIGHT

“Mustard Field Study was never intended to be a

painting in its own right,” says self-taught Portfolio Plus

artist Angie Wright. “For me it was a sketch of a

moment that had struck me while driving in rural

France. A vivid blue sky making way to cloud, bright

yellow mustard flowers swaying in a breeze and dark

green shadows. It was the colours.”

For Angie, it’s the emotive power of colour that

unites her acrylic abstract artworks. Inspired by LeRoy

Neiman’s vibrant paintings – immortalised in popular

culture at the end of the 1980s film Rocky III – Angie

began to look to her palette for emotional impact.

Initially she painted portraits, later moving to

landscapes. Not entirely abstract, Mustard Field Study

combines traditional landscape with her striking style.

Based in France, having lived in Spain and the

Canary Islands as well as the UK, Angie has made the

journey to full-time artist through her travels,

distancing herself from her training in pure and applied

biology and nursing. Her paintings start life in her

bright home studio. Each piece is worked on from a

range of positions – the large canvases can be laid on

the floor, placed on a large fold-down bench and hung

vertically on the wall. To create the splashes of

yellow in Mustard Seed Study, Angie

mixed paint – her favourites range

from Liquitex and Fevicryl to

Sennelier’s abstract acrylic – with

medium and then poured,

dripped and flicked from various

heights. In contrast, the calm

lines that make up the sky are

applied in layers using a palette

knife. This is a technique that

spans her work, juxtaposing

contrasting shades to create dynamism,

and complementary colours for subtle effects.

Although she makes quick biro sketches of light

sources and line at the scene, she also reflects on how

she feels at the time of impact. These annotations

influence her choice of colour, the way she applies line,

the thickness of the paint and the intensity of the drip.

Emotion becomes colour, and vice versa, bringing the

viewer as close to her ‘moment’ as possible.

top tip

Use ink and enamel

paints to add a new

dimension. Experiment

with acrylic mediums

to increase flow or

thicken paint

fresh paint

12 Fresh Paint.indd 16 06/04/2017 12: