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Lou Smith
I was born in Edinburgh in 1955. Growing up in Scotland and enjoying the vibrancy and intensity of the Scottish landscape and clarity of light, my rich visual appreciation of colour is embedded in my roots as a Scottish Colourist.
My paintings are large, very often, using a 9ft minimum height. I work on unstretched canvas, tacking it directly to the studio floor. This enables me to reach the centre of my paintings. I walk onto the canvas to reach the centre. When the majority of the painting is wet, I attach paintbrushes to a broom handle to enable me to reach the centre. I work on unprimed canvas, staining rich colour hues into the canvas fibres. The work is exhibited unstretched, as the sensitive outer edges are part of the emotional content of the painting.
As a painting is created and developed on the floor, I view the work in progress from a stepladder. This enables me to look down on the work and read the spatial relationships. When I feel ready, I staple the work to the studio wall so that it can be viewed from a distance. I hang as much work as possible on the walls. I like to live amongst my work in the studio. I overhang paintings when I run out of wall space. The studio becomes wall-to-wall, ceiling to floor with paintings. I enjoy this crammed visual space. When I enter my studio and close the door, I close the door on demands made on me from other areas of my life.
My paintings tend to form into series, e.g., Hotstock, Aerobic Moves, Lilac Shower and Summer Bursts. I identify the series when I have completed a number of works. At the outset of a painting I cannot identify the series. This comes afterwards. It is the small subtle changes in the formal relationships, which determine a series change
My work is big, bold, generous and colourful. Layers of colour resonate within these paintings. Powerful female forms dominate my canvases. Colour is a vehicle for sensual energy. My paintings are a rich celebration of female sexuality. To know these paintings is to feel sensation through perceiving and enjoying the sensual power of colour and rhythm.
I have exhibited my work both locally and nationally. My paintings have been filmed for an independent production for Channel 4, and for Lewisham College.
I continue to work as an educator in the field of Fine Art.
My paintings can be viewed at www.lousmith.co.uk and my photographs at www.smithnsmith.com
© Lou Smith 2006
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